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IKq  Dfcys  of  Old 


The  Seventy-Fifth  Jkniv<?r$My  of 
th^  Third  Presbyteri&n  Church  of 
Newark,  New  tJer^py  4*   4*   4» 


1824 

I{ElVIE|W&EHlIiG  THE  DAYS  OF  OLD 

or 

The  Puritans  and  Their  Descendants 


f\  D1SGOURSE 

Delivered  June  iith,  1899,  in  Commemoration  of 
the  Seventy-Fifth  Anniversary  of  the  Or- 
ganization of  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Newark,  New  Jersey 

BY  THE  PASTOR 

REV.  A.  NELSON  HOLLIFIELD,  D.D. 


Also  Short  Sketches  of  Former  Pastors  of  the  Church, 
and  an  Account  of  the   Anniversary  Exer- 
cises by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hollifield. 

Reminiscences  by  Elder  Horace  Ailing  and  William 
Rankin,  LL.D.,  and  other  Papers  of  Interest. 

1809 


PRINTED  BY  THE  SESSION. 


Remembering  the  Days  of  Old 


OR 


The  Puritans  and  Their  Descendants. 


"  Remember  the  Days  of  Old,  Consider  the  Years  of  Many 
Generations;  Ask  Thy  Father,  and  He  Will  Shew  Thee;  Thy 
Elders,  and  They  Will  Teach  Thee." — Deut.  xxxii.;  7. 

Moses,  having  brought  the  children  of  Israel  to 
the  borders  of  the  Promised  Land,  being  commanded 
by  God  to  go  up  to  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  there  die 
alone,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  called  the  elders  and 
people  together,  and  addressed  to  them  his  farewell 
message  in  the  memorable  song  of  which  our  text  forms 
a  part. 

In  it  he  rehearses  God's  gracious  dealings  with 
them,  and  entreats  them  ever  to  be  loyal  and  grateful 
to  Him  by  a  review  of  their  singular  mercies. 

It  is  in  this  connection  that  the  words  of  the  text 
occur,  "  Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years 
of  many  generations  ;  ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  shew 
thee  ;  thy  elders,  and  they  will  tell  thee." 

To  enforce  this  exhortation,  he  gave  instances 
wherein  God  had  favored  them,  some  of  which  oc- 
curred in  the  remote  past,  the  memory  of  which  had 
been  kept  fresh  and  green  by  tradition;  these  he  bade 
them  keep  in  mind,  saying,  "  Remember  the  days  of 
old,  consider  the  years  of  many  generations."  He  gave 
also  other  instances  of  more  recent  occurrence,  for  infor- 
mation concerning  which  he  sent  them  to  their  fathers 
and  elders  that  were  then  alive  and  with  them,  saying, 


4  REMEMBERING  THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

"  Ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  shew  thee  ;  thy  elders,  and 
they  will  tell  thee." 

Moses  was  right.  Extended  views,  views  embrac- 
ing centuries  are  essential  to  the  clear  understanding 
of  history.  Long  exposure  is  required  to  paint  upon 
the  mental  sensitive  plate  a  distinct  picture  of  the 
great  events  of  time.  Ages  are  necessary  to  constitute 
the  dark  back-ground  that  brings  out  into  bold  relief 
the  present. 

In  the  providence  of  God,  we  have  been  brought 
to  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  of  our  organi- 
zation as  a  church,  an  occasion  that  calls  for  devout 
thanksgiving  to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  and 
that  our  thanksgiving  may  be  intelligent  and  ade- 
quate, it  is  necessary  that  we  survey  the  distant  past 
"  dim  with  the  mist  of  years,"  and  that  period  of  our 
history  that  lies  nearer  to  us,  a  period  "  rich  with  the 
spoils  of  time." 

The  only  way  in  which  we  can  properly  estimate  the 
value  and  vastness  of  our  blessings  as  a  church,  and  our 
corresponding  indebtedness  to  God,  is  by  calling  up  the 
past,  reviewing  God's  gracious  leadings,  tracing  out  the 
developments  of  his  eternal  plans,  and  recognizing  the 
manifestations  of  His  marvellous  greatness  and  power 
and  goodness,  all  along  the  line  of  our  history,  and  then 
contrasting  our  favored  condition  near  the  close  of  the 
most  wonderful  of  the  nineteen  Christian  centuries  with 
the  past  as  it  passes  in  panoramic  view  before  us. 

So  vast  is  the  view  that  such  a  retrospect  opens  up 
that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  do  much  more  this  morning 
than  to  indicate  its  most  notable  scenes. 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  5 

This  church  enjoys  the  enviable  distinction  of  hav- 
ing descended  from  the  Puritans.  It  can  trace  its  an- 
cestral line  back  three  centuries  to  those  historic  times 
and  memorable  scenes  that  were  epoch-making,  and 
which  gave  to  the  world  the  blessings  of  religious  and 
civil  liberties,  and  so  made  possible  its  magnificent 
civilization. 

Seventy-five  years  ago,  Thursday,  June  8th,  this 
church  was  organized,  being  one  of  the  four  churches 
into  which  the  original  church  of  this  city  was  divided, 
namely,  the  First,  Second  and  Third  churches  of  New- 
ark and  the  First  Church  of  Orange. 

The  First  Church  was  organized  in  1667  by  emi- 
grants from  Connecticut,  many  of  whom  had,  a  few 
years  previously,  emigrated  from  England. 

That  we  may  have  an  intelligent  view  of  the  his- 
tory of  our  church,  one  that  shall  inspire  us  with 
deeper  love  for  the  vital  principles  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness and  religious  and  civil  liberty,  which  it  has 
ever  successfully  championed ;  awaken  a  profound 
sense  of  the  greatness  of  the  trust  committed  to  us,  and 
our  individual  responsibility  in  connection  with  it,  that 
we  may  pass  it  on  enriched  by  the  added  treasures  of 
years,  to  generations  yet  unborn,  as  their  grandest  heri- 
tage, and  call  forth  our  devout  gratitude  to  Him  who 
has  ever  guarded  and  guided  us  amid  the  constantly 
shifting  scenes  of  our  eventful  career,  it  is  necessary 
that  we  review  the  three  periods  which  have  been  indi- 
cated, and  with  that  end  in  view,  I  shall  speak  this 
morning  of  the  Puritans  in  England,  in  New  England, 
and  the  Puritans  and  their  descendants  in  Newark. 


REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 


I. — THE   PURITANS   IN   ENGLAND. 

If  we  are  to  trace  with  any  degree  of  definiteness 
and  intelligence  the  history  of  our  Puritan  forefathers, 
it  is  necessary  that  we  familiarize  ourselves  with  the 
condition  of  affairs  in  Europe,  and  especially  in  En- 
gland, during  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries. 

The  Christian  Church  was  planted  in  England 
either  in  the  first  or  second  centuries. 

Its  representatives  sat  in  the  Council  of  Nice, 
called  to  put  the  seal  of  condemnation  upon  Arianism, 
A.  D.  325. 

The  Church  in  England,  in  conjunction  with  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Christian  Church  in  France,  early  in 
the  fifth  century,  declared  against  Pelagianism. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  Britain,  be- 
ing invaded  by  the  Picts,  and  its  existence  threatened, 
the  Britains  appealed  to  the  Saxons  to  assist  them. 

The  Saxons  came  under  their  leaders  Hengist  and 
Horsa,  but  soon  turned  their  swords  against  those  they 
came  to  defend,  made  themselves  masters  of  the  land, 
and  firmly  established  Saxon  sovereignty. 

Multitudes  of  Christians  retired  before  the  influx 
of  this  horde  of  barbarians  into  the  mountain  fastnesses 
of  Wales,  and  Christianity  in  England  was,  to  a  large 
extent,  supplanted  by  Paganism  for  about  a  century 
and  a  half,  when  Pope  Gregory,  in  596,  sent  Augustine 
as  a  missionary  to  that  land. 

The  distinguished   preacher  found   the  primitive 


THE  PURITANS  AND  THEIR  DESCENDANTS.      J 

Church  strong  in  faith  and  vital  with  spiritual  energy, 
though  small  and  distressed,  the  leaders  of  which  re- 
fused to  submit  to  the  yoke  of  Rome,  for  which  refusal 
hundreds  were  massacred  in  cold  blood. 

Gradually  the  Church  of  Rome  gained  the  as- 
cendancy over  the  primitive  Church  in  Britain,  and 
her  prelates  lorded  it  over  God's  heritage  for  well- 
nigh  a  thousand  years,  or  until  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Its  history  during  that  long  period  was  the  history 
of  constantly  increasing  ignorance,  superstition  and 
immorality,  and  it  constitutes  one  of  the  darkest  chap- 
ters of  the  mediaeval  ages. 

The  Bible  was  withheld  from  the  people. 

The  choicest  clerical  preferments  were  bestowed 
without  regard  to  personal  fitness  upon  foreigners,  and 
non-residents,  and  even  upon  those  who  had  no  inten- 
tion of  discharging  their  sacred  duties,  but  were  willing 
to  live  upon  revenues  consecrated  by  the  pious  to  the 
support  of  the  clergy. 

These  sacred  appointments  were  freely  made  to 
further  political  schemes. 

The  bishops  and  priests,  as  a  rule,  were  destitute  of 
spiritual  principle,  were  dominated  by  a  spirit  of 
worldly  aggrandizement  and  luxury,  and  ruled  over 
those  committed  to  their  care  with  a  rod  of  iron. 

The  memorial  rite  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  de- 
graded into  a  sacrifice  for  the  benefit  of  the  dead. 

Indulgences  to  commit  sin  were  publicly  sold,  and 
so  great  was  their  sale  that  the  country  was  impover- 
ished. 


8  REMEMBERING  THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

The  people  prostrated  themselves  before  images  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  in  blind  adoration. 

And  this  religious  degeneracy  was  the  legitimate 
fruit  of  the  false  doctrines  which  Rome  taught  and  com- 
pelled the  acceptance  of  under  threats  of  excommuni- 
cation and  the  infliction  of  physical  penalties. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  England  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

But  God  in  his  providence  was  preparing  the 
forces  that  were  to  effect  the  downfall  of  the  mediaeval 
Papacy,  and  secure  to  men  through  all  time  their  relig- 
ious and  civil  rights  of  which  they  had  been  so  long 
robbed  by  the  despotic  exercise  of  princely  and  pre- 
latic  power. 

These  forces,  though  widely  separated,  apparently 
disconnected,  and  often  seemingly  antagonistic,  were 
all  concentrated  upon  this  supreme  event,  fraught  with 
the  liberties  of  a  race. 

In  this  case  we  shall  see  that — 

Many  things  having  full  reference 

To  one  consent,  may  work  contrariously; 

As  many  arrows  loosed  several  ways 

Come  to  one  mark  ; 

As  many  ways  meet  in  one  town  ; 

As  many  fresh  streams  meet  in  one  salt  sea  ; 

As  many  lines  close  in  the  dial's  centre  : 

So  many  a  thousand  actions,  once  afoot, 

End  in  one  purpose. 

I  can  only  outline  the  things  which  made  possible 
that  mighty  upheaval  which  shook  thrones  to  their 
foundation,  freed  the  Christian  religion  from  Pagan 
ceremonies,   and   corrupt   doctrines,    resurrected    the 


THE  PURITANS  AND  THEIR  DESCENDANTS.      9 

Church  of  the  Apostles,  gave  birth  to  the  American 
Republic,  and  is  destined  to  inspire  with  hope,  and 
bless  with  freedom  the  peoples  of  all  lands,  and  all  ages. 

Wyckliffe,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  publicly  pro- 
tested against  the  Pope's  authority  in  both  civil  and 
religious  matters,  and  against  the  corrupt  doctrines  and 
practices  of  the  Church;  but  he  was  as  one  crying  in 
the  wilderness.  He  sent  forth  priests,  whom  he  had 
indoctrinated,  and  inspired  with  his  spirit  of  reform, 
to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  villages,  the  fields,  the 
market  places,  and  the  church  yards  of  England. 

These  were  known  as  the  Lollards,  and  did  much 
to  leaven  the  Kingdom  with  the  truth. 

God's  set  time  to  favor  Zion  had  not  then  arrived, 
but  Wyckliffe  hastened  its  coming  by  the  crowning 
work  of  his  life,  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 
the  English  tongue;  copies  of  which  were  made  with 
the  pen,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the  Papal  dominion 
began  in  England,  the  Word  of  God  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  people  in  their  own  language. 

That  was  the  first  ray  of  light  in  the  darkness  of  one 
thousand  years;  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  before 
Luther  denounced  the  sale  of  indulgences  by  Tetzel. 

In  1362,  the  Mariner's  Compass  was  re-discovered 
and  improved;  thus  enabling  navigators  to  safely  sail 
unknown  seas,  and  making  the  discovery  of  America 
a  possibility. 

In  1438,  Printing  was  invented,  thus  permitting 
the  rapid  and  cheap  reproduction  of  the  Scriptures  for 
circulation  among  the  people  for  their  enlightenment, 
without  which,  reform  would  have  been  impossible. 


IO  REMEMBERING  THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

In  1453,  Constantinople  fell  before  the  fierce  on- 
slaught of  the  Turks.  The  Greek  Christian  Empire 
was  destroyed,  and  its  learned  men  were  dispersed 
throughout  Europe,  and  as  a  consequence,  ancient  lit- 
erature was  disseminated  and  resulted  in  a  revival  of 
learning;  Feudalism  declined,  and  the  intelligence  and 
power  of  the  middle  classes  gradually  increased,  so 
that  they  came  to  enjoy  the  freedom  and  political 
power,  once  the  exclusive  privileges  of  the  Barons. 

In  1492,  America  was  discovered,  and  thus  was  pro- 
vided an  asylum  for  the  persecuted  of  all  lands ;  virgin 
soil  in  which  to  sow  the  finest  of  the  wheat ;  a  land  free 
from  the  grave  difficulties  encountered  in  the  hoary 
monarchies  of  the  Eastern  hemisphere,  in  the  attempt 
to  introduce  radical  religious  and  civil  reforms. 

Early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  Martin  Luther,  who 
was  destined  to  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  Refor- 
mation, nailed  his  famous  Theses  to  the  gate  of  the 
Church  in  Wittenberg,  Germany,  and  proclaimed  sal- 
vation by  faith  alone,  thus  supplying  the  "battle  cry"  of 
the  Reformation;  the  great  central  truth  of  the  Gospel, 
which  had  been  so  long  lost  sight  of. 

A  little  later,  or  in  1535,  John  Calvin,  the  great 
Reformer  of  Geneva,  published  his  famous  Institutes, 
and  exercised  a  wide-spread  and  powerful  influence  in 
the  formation  of  that  faith  and  spirit,  that  eventually 
brought  about  reform  in  religious  doctrines  and  polity, 
and  in  civil  governments,  through  revolution. 

He  marshalled  the  scattered  and  unorganized 
forces  of  the  Protestant  movement  under  one  banner,, 
and  made  of  numerous  and  separated  bands,  a  mighty 


THE   PURITANS  AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  II 

and  well  disciplined  army,  which  in  thirty  years 
achieved  glorious  triumphs  in  Germany;  conquered 
half  of  France;  created  and  inspired  the  intrepid  heroes 
of  the  Netherlands  to  throw  off  the  galling  chains  of 
Spain;  entered  England,  aroused  the  spirit  of  Puritan- 
ism throughout  its  length  and  breadth,  and  made  the 
Scotch  as  firm  in  their  Protestant  faith  as  the  rugged 
mountains  of  their  native  land. 

The  popular  poetry  of  Chaucer  made  the  people 
familiar  with  the  grosser  faults  of  the  priests,  and 
aroused  against  them  the  indignation  of  the  masses; 
while  the  writings  and  influence  of  the  learned  Eras- 
mus, who  taught  in  the  great  Universities  of  England, 
and  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  day,  led  many  in  the  higher  ranks  of  society 
to  give  serious  consideration  to  the  subject  of 
Reform. 

In  1568,  the  storm  of  religious  persecution  which 
broke  in  fury  on  France  and  Holland,  drove  a  large 
number  of  Protestants,  chiefly  Presbyterians,  to  Eng- 
land for  safety,  and  so  spread  the  light  of  truth,  and  the 
spirit  of  liberty  throughout  the  Kingdom. 

English  Protestants  were  frequently  driven  by 
persecution  to  seek  refuge  in  Holland,  where  religious 
liberty  was  allowed,  and  on  their  return  they  strength- 
ened and  extended  the  spirit  of  Protestantism. 

Such  were  the  forces  employed  by  God  to  bring 
about  the  much  needed  Reformation. 

Nor  were  the  men  wanting,  when  the  hour  struck 
for  them  to  act. 

The  influences  we  have  been  considering,  created 


12  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

the  men  who  were  to  take  the  lead  in  this  stupendous 
movement. 

They  are  known  as  the  Puritans;  a  name  given  in 
derision,  but  one  which  has  come  to  be  far  more  glori- 
ous than  that  of  Prince  or  Prelate. 

The  Reformation  began  in  a  revolt  against  Popery 
in  priest  and  king  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  who  re- 
nounced the  authority  of  the  Pope,  in  order  to  make  valid 
his  divorce  from  his  wife,  but  assumed  that  authority 
himself,  so  that  the  people  had  Popery  without  a  Pope. 

The  King  exercised  complete  sway  over  the 
Church,  and  the  consciences  of  men,  and  those  who 
protested  against  this  usurpation  of  power  were  called 
Protestants. 

Protestantism  developed  into  Puritanism  in  1564,  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  name  Puritan  being 
given  in  reproach,  to  distinguish  and  stigmatize  those 
who  did  not  conform  to  the  liturgy,  ceremonies  and 
worship  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  period  from  Henry  VIII  to  Charles  I,  or  from 
1533  to  1649,  was  one  of  fearful  persecution  and  blood- 
shed, in  which  the  fires  of  Smithfield  were  kindled; 
the  purest  blood  of  England  was  poured  out  like 
water;  estates  were  confiscated;  the  noblest  men  in  the 
kingdom  were  branded,  tortured  and  imprisoned,  and 
hundreds  were  driven  into  exile,  because  of  their  re- 
ligious opinions. 

Rogers,  Hooper,  Latimer,  Ridley,  Cranmer,  and  a 
host  of  godly  men,  were  baptized  with  fire,  and  those 
tongues  of  fire  spoke  more  eloquently  for  truth  and 
liberty  than  the  tongues  they  silenced. 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  1 3 

It  is  computed  that  400  persons  were  consigned  to 
death  for  their  Protestant  faith  during  the  reign  of 
Mary  alone.  It  was  by  means  such  as  these  that  God 
purified  his  Church,  and  started  it  upon  a  career  of 
higher  and  world-wide  usefulness. 

All  history  proves  that  before   truth   can  prevail 

over  error,  there  must  be  tears  and  sacrifice  and  death. 

There  will  be — 

"Dim  echoings 
Not  of  the  truth,  but  witnessing  the  truth, 
Like  the  resounding  thunder  of  the  rock 
Which  the  sea  passes;  rushing  thoughts  like  heralds, 
Voices  which  seem  to  clear  the  way  for  greatness, 
Cry  advent  in  the  soul,  like  the  far  shoutings 
That  say  a  monarch  comes.     These  must  go  by, 
And  then  the  man  who  can  out  watch  this  vigil 
Sees  the  apocalypse." 

The  "echoings,"  the  "voices,"  the  "vigils,"  be- 
longed to  our  forefathers ;  ours  is  the  splendor  of  the 
vision,  "The  golden-spired  apocalypse." 

II. — THE   PURITANS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

These  persecutions  drove  many  into  exile  in  Hol- 
land early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  in  1620,  101 
of  these  exiles,  under  Brewster,  set  sail  in  the  May- 
flower for  America,  and  December  10th  of  the  same 
year,  they  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock. 

These  were  the  Pilgrims  who  separated  from  the 
Church  of  England  in  1606  and  erected  themselves  into 
an  independent  ecclesiastical  organization. 

During  the  next  two  decades  others  from  England, 
known  as  the  Puritans,  who  continued  in  the  Church 


14  REMEMBERING  THE   DAYS    OF   OLD,   OR 

of  England  until  the  time  of  Cromwell,  laboring  in  vain 
to  purify  it,  broke  with  both  King  and  Church,  and 
followed  the  Pilgrims  to  our  Western  shores,  and  be- 
came with  them  the  immortal  founders  of  the  American 
Colonies.  Thus  the  history  of  American  colonization 
is  the  history  of  the  crimes  of  Europe. 

In  1636  the  Rev.  John  Davenport,  who  had  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  the  infamous  Laud,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  because  of  his  Protestantism,  and  had  been 
forced  three  years  before  to  fly  to  Amsterdam,  returned 
to  England,  and,  in  1637,  in  connection  with  Theophilus 
Eaton,  a  wealthy  merchant,  organized  a  scheme  of  emi- 
gration to  New  England  that  included  Puritans  from 
Yorkshire,  Hertfordshire  and  Kent. 

These  emigrants  were  among  the  last  of  the  Puri- 
tans to  emigrate  to  America.  The  exodus  of  that  class 
ended  in  1640,  when  the  Long  Parliament  convened, 
and  for  more  than  a  century  no  considerable  number 
came  to  North  America. 

The  emigrants  under  Davenport  and  Eaton  who 
came  over  in  1637,  settled  first  in  the  Colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Mr.  Davenport  took  as  the  text  of  the  first  sermon 
he  preached  the  Sabbath  after  landing  in  New  England, 
Matt.  iv. :  1,  his  subject  being,  "  The  Temptation  in  the 
Wilderness." 

At  the  time  of  their  arrival  the  Antinomian  contro- 
versy was  at  its  height,  and  though  Mr.  Davenport 
achieved  distinction  in  battling  against  this  error,  it  is 
probable  that  he  desired  to  locate  with  his  flock  in  some 
spot  far  from  the  disturbance  of  religious  debate. 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  1 5 

The  merchants  of  the  party  wishing-  to  engage  in 
mercantile  pursuits,  were  looking  about  for  a  harbor 
advantageously  situated,  and  parties  who  had  just 
returned  from  war  with  the  Pequots,  brought  reports  of 
such  a  spot  on  Long  Island  Sound,  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  Pequots  removing  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  colo- 
nization of  the  Connecticut  coast,  they  withdrew  from 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  and  set  up  a  government 
of  their  own  in  New  Haven,  which  town,  together  with 
Branford,  Guilford,  Milford,  Stamford  and  Southold, 
L.  I.,  constituted  the  Colony  of  New  Haven  in  1665, 
when  it  was  combined  with  the  Colony  of  Connecticut 
by  Royal  Charter. 

Bacon  says  "  The  wealth,  the  respectability  and 
the  intelligence  of  the  newly  arrived  company  of  emi- 
grants made  it  an  object  with  each  of  the  colonies 
already  planted  to  secure  so  valuable  an  accession." 

The  religious  sentiments  of  the  Puritans  gave  shape 
and  color  to  all  of  their  civil  and  social  institutions. 

The  towns  in  the  Colony  of  New  Haven  were  gov- 
erned by  seven  ecclesiastical  officers,  who  were  called 
the  "  Pillars  of  the  Church." 

They  summoned  to  their  assistance  others  who 
were  eligible  for  membership  in  the  Church. 

Membership  in  the  Church  was  the  indispensable 
condition  of  citizenship,  and  the  application  of  this  law 
disfranchised  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  of 
New  Haven  and  Guilford,  and  about  one-fifth  of  the 
town  of  Milford. 

As  early  as  1639  a  constitution  was  adopted  at 
Hartford,  Conn.,  which  is  now  admitted  to  be  the  first 


l6  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

one  written  out  as  a  complete  form  of  civil  order  in  the 
New  World,  and  embodying  all  the  essential  features 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  American  States  and  of  the 
Republic  itself  as  they  exist  at  the  present  day  ;  so  that 
the  constitution  of  Connecticut  is  the  oldest  of  the 
American  constitutions  and  the  mother  of  them  all. 

Says  one,  "  The  dream  of  civil  liberty  which  had 
filled  all  the  past,  in  Connecticut  for  the  first  time  upon 
American  soil,  became  a  recorded  verity  ;  her  first 
written  constitution  adopted  in  Hartford  recognizing 
that  all  ultimate  power  is  lodged  with  the  people,  and 
that  there  should  be  no  taxation  without  representa- 
tion." 

The  federal  principle  which  has  since  received  its 
highest  embodiment  in  our  Republic,  originated  in 
New  England  in  1643,  when  the  colonies  of  New 
Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  New  Haven, 
with  a  combined  population  of  twenty-four  thousand, 
"  entered  into  a  firm  and  perpetual  league  of  friendship 
and  amity,  for  offence  and  defence,  and  succor  upon  all 
just  occasions,  both  for  preserving  and  propagating  the 
truth  and  principles  of  the  gospel,  and  for  mutual  safety 
and  welfare." 

The  title  ot  this  federation  was  "  The  United  Colo- 
nies of  New  England.'' 

The  great  principles  for  which  the  Puritans  of 
New  England  stood  were  those  of  religious  and  civil 
liberties,  and  they  laid  deep  and  broad  the  foundations 
of  those  majestic  institutions  which  are  the  grandest  the 
race  has  ever  known. 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  1 7 

"Yes,  in  the  desert  there  is  built  a  home 

For  Freedom.     Genius  is  made  strong  to  rear 
The  monuments  of  man  beneath  the  dome 

Of  a  new  heaven  ;  myriads  assemble  there, 
Whom  the  proud  lords  of  man  in  rage  or  fear 
Drove  from  their  wasted  homes." 

As  might  have  been  expected  from  the  causes  that 
drove  the  Puritans  from  their  native  land,  across  an  un- 
known sea,  to  seek  a  home  in  the  forests  of  this  new 
world,  they  were  an  intensely  religious  people.  They 
gave  their  children  such  names  as  Charity,  Fear,  Expe- 
rience, Love,  Faith,  Hope,  Wrestling,  Patience  and 
Perseverance. 

They  reverenced  the  Bible  as  the  inerrant  Word  of 
God,  and  the  sole  authority  in  religious  doctrine  and 
practice. 

They  were  all  Calvinists.  So  intense  was  their 
antipathy  to  Romanism  that  they  not  only  rejected  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Pope  in  spiritual  and  temporal  mat- 
ters; Romish  ceremonies  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer;  priestly  vestments;  kneeling  in  receiving  the 
sacrament;  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism; 
bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  like  things,  but  their 
ministers  refused  to  marry  people,  leaving  that  duty  to 
civil  officers,  because  marriage  was  regarded  as  a  sac- 
rament in  the  Romish  Church  ;  nor  would  they  pray  at 
funerals,  because  the  priests  of  Rome  prayed  for  the 
dead  on  such  occasions,  and  they  were  unwilling  to 
do  anything  that  could  possibly  be  construed  into  an 
endorsement  of  these  Romish  doctrines  and  practices. 

They  observed  the  Sabbath  with  great  strictness; 
all  work  was  suspended  at  three  o'clock  on  Saturday 


1 8  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,    OR 

afternoon,  and  the  remainder  of  the  day  was  spent  in 
catechising  and  making  ready  for  the  Sabbath. 

From  sunset  on  Saturday  until  Sabbath  evening 
they  would  not  shave,  have  rooms  swept,  nor  beds 
made,  have  food  prepared,  nor  cooking  utensils  nor 
table  ware  washed. 

Attendance  on  church  services  was  made  compul- 
sory by  law,  absence  therefrom  being  punishable  by  fine. 

In  Connecticut,  as  well  as  in  Massachusetts  and 
New  Haven,  all  were  compelled,  by  law,  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  the  minister. 

The  sermons  were  long,  and  the  churches  were 
without  either  cushions,  fire  or  pews,  ordinary  benches 
being  used  for  seating  the  congregation. 

The  following  is  an  entry  from  the  diary  of  Judge 
Sewall :  "  The  Communion  bread  was  frozen  pretty 
hard  and  rattled  sadly  in  the  plates.  Extraordinary 
snow  storms." 

The  ministers  often  wore  woollen  mittens  while 
preaching. 

A  few  of  the  women  carried  little  foot  stoves  to 
church,  but  the  custom  was  not  general.  On  one  occa- 
sion a  member  of  the  church  refused  to  subscribe  for 
the  purchase  of  a  stove  for  the  church,  on  the  ground 
that  "  good  preaching  kept  him  hot  enough  without 
stoves." 

The  congregation  stood  while  the  preacher  read 
his  text,  to  manifest  their  reverence  for  God's  Word. 

The  people  came  forward  to  the  Deacons'  seat 
with  their  contributions.  Men  and  women  were  seated 
on  opp@site  sides  of  the  church. 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  I9 

To  Connecticut  belongs  the  honor  of  organizing 
the  first  Sabbath  school,  in  the  modern  form  of  that 
institution,  in  America,  if  not  in  the  world.  Forty 
years  before  Robert  Raikes  gathered  the  children  of 
Glasgow  into  a  school,  the  officers  of  the  church  in 
Woodbury,  Connecticut,  assembled  the  children  for 
instruction  in  the  Bible  and  the  Catechism. 

The  character  of  the  Puritans  was  rigid  and  strong; 
just  such  a  character  as  the  fierce  religious  persecutions 
of  more  than  a  century  would  naturally  produce;  just 
such  a  character  as  was  needed  to  create  the  American 
Republic. 

They  were  a  stern,  resolute  set  of  men;  as  a  rule, 
they  were  God-fearing,  pure  in  character,  honest  in 
their  dealings,  and  invincible  in  all  their  undertakings. 

In  many  things  they  were  behind  our  times,  but 
they  were  immeasurably  ahead  of  their  own. 

The  men  of  to-day  who  sneer  at  them,  could  not 
have  accomplished  their  mighty  work,  and  it  would  be 
well  for  the  world  if  the  old  Puritans  could  come  back 
and  spend  a  generation  teaching  their  descendants  les- 
sons of  faith  in  the  Bible,  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath, and  common  honesty. 

They  have  suffered  unjustly  in  reputation  from 
"  The  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut,"  which  were  attrib- 
uted to  them,  but  which  never  had  any  existence,  ex- 
cept in  the  imagination  of  a  Tory  refugee  in  London, 
who  took  pleasure  in  awakening  the  worst  fears  of  their 
relatives  in  England,  by  fabricating  the  most  terrible 
tales  of  the  barbarous  treatment  of  the  Colonists  at  the 
hands  of  the  authorities. 


20  REMEMBERING  THE  DAYS  OF  OLD,   OR 

It  is  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection  that  though 
one  of  the  chief  differences  between  the  Pilgrims  and 
the  Puritans  was  that,  the  former  possessed  a  pacific 
spirit  and  tolerated  those  who  held  other  religious 
views  than  their  own;  while  the  latter  were  dog- 
matic, and  intolerant,  and  blackened  their  annals  with 
acts  of  heartless  persecution;  that  the  Puritans  of  Con- 
necticut were  an  exception  to  their  class,  inasmuch  as 
"  they  did  not  go  to  the  extreme  of  burning  witches 
and  persecuting  Quakers.'' 

While  the  Puritans  proscribed  certain  amusements 
which  they  deemed  sinful,  they  had  other  amusements, 
in  which  they  heartily  indulged.  They  did  not  hesi- 
tate at  times  to  indulge  in  a  pun,  even  in  the  pulpit. 

In  1647,  there  was  great  excitement  in  Connecticut 
regarding  what  is  known  as  "The  Half  Way  Covenant," 
according  to  which  a  person  who  had  intellectual  faith 
in  Christ,  but  had  not  been  regenerated,  might  be  re- 
ceived into  the  Church  without  the  privilege  of  par- 
taking of  the  Lord's  Supper,  thereby  securing  the 
rights  of  citizenship  in  the  Colony. 

The  majority  of  the  Church  at  Stratford  opposed 
it,  and  the  minority  obtained  permission  from  the  au- 
thorities to  call  a  minister  of  their  own,  and  the  use  oi 
the  church  edifice  three  hours  every  Sabbath.  They 
called  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walker,  who  made  some  declara- 
tions in  a  sermon  which  the  distinguished  Dr.  Chaun- 
cey,  pastor  of  the  old  church,  considered  unjust,  and  as 
reflecting  upon  himself. 

The  next  Sabbath,  Dr.  Chauncey  took  for  his  text 
hese  words  :  "  Be  sober;  be  vigilant,  because  your  ad- 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  21 

versary,  the  devil,  as  a  roaring  lion,    walketh  about, 
seeking  whom  he  may  devour." 

His  first  point  was :  "  You  see,  my  brethren,  that 
the  devil  is  a  great  '  Walker.'  '' 

Another  conspicuous  instance  of  the  same  charac- 
ter occurred  about  1686,  when  Sir  Edmund  Andross 
the  English  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  who  was  very 
obnoxious  to  the  Colonists,  attended  divine  service  in 
New  Haven,  and  the  Deacon,  recognizing  him,  gave 
out  the  fifty-second  Psalm,  in  Sternhold's  Version,  to  be 
sung,  which  began  in  this  way  : 


"Why  dost  thou  tyrant  boast  abroad 
Thy  wicked  works  to  praise  ? 
Dost  thou  not  know  there  is  a  God, 
Whose  mercies  last  always  ? 

Why  dost  thy  mind  still  devise 
Such  wicked  wiles  to  warp  ? 
Thy  tongue  untrue  in  forging  lies 
Is  like  a  razor  sharp. 

Thou  dost  delight  in  fraud  and  guile, 
In  mischief,  blood  and  wrong, 
Thy  lips  have  learned  the  flattering  style 
O  false,  deceitful  tongue." 


A  people  whose  spiritual  guides  were  capable  of 
indulging  in  such  things  in  Divine  worship,  could  not 
have  been  altogether  devoid  of  humor  in  their  social 
lives. 

The  Puritans  were  a  noble  band,  for  whom  we 
should  have  only  words  of  praise,  and  when  I  say  the 
Puritans,  I  mean  the  women  as  well  as  the  men,  for 
I  am  sure  that  without  the  influence  of  the  women,  the 


22  REMEMBERING  THE  DAYS   OF  OLD,  OR 

Puritan  fathers  could  not  have  achieved  the  success 
they  did. 

These  were  the  people  who  toiled,  and  sacrificed, 
and  suffered  untold  hardships  in  the  wilderness,  lor  con- 
science sake,  that  the  oppressed  of  all  lands  might  here 
find  an  asylum  from  princely  and  prelatic  tyranny,  and 
purity  of  doctrine,  and  spirituality  of  worship  be  se- 
cured to  all  generations. 

Bancroft  has  well  said,  "  History  has  ever  cele- 
brated the  commanders  of  armies  on  whom  victory 
has  been  entailed.  The  heroes  who  have  won  vic- 
tories in  scenes  of  carnage  and  rapine.  Has  it  no 
place  for  the  founders  of  States,  the  wise  Legislators 
who  struck  the  rock  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  waters 
of  Liberty  gushed  forth  in  copious  and  perennial  foun- 
tains ?' 

We  may  say  of  the  Puritans  what  the  poet  says  of 
the  Pilgrims  : 

"  Like  Israel's  host  to  exile  driven 
Across  the  flood  the  Pilgrims  fled, 
Their  hands  bore  up  the  Ark  of  Heaven, 
And  Heaven  their  trusting  footsteps  led, 
Till  on  these  savage  shores  they  trod, 
And  won  the  wilderness  for  God." 

III. — THE    PURITANS    AND    THEIR   DESCENDANTS 
IN    NEWARK. 

In  1665,  the  Colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New 
Haven  were  consolidated  by  Royal  Charter,  and  a 
number  of  the  people  of  Branford,  Guilford,  and  Mil- 
ford,  a  large  majority  being  from  Branford,  of  the  old 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR  DESCENDANTS.  23 

Colony  of  New  Haven,  being  unalterably  opposed  to 
the  liberal  laws  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  which 
admitted  unregenerate  men  to  membership  in  the 
Church,  and  invested  them  with  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship, resolved  to  remove  further  into  the  wilderness, 
that  they  might  carry  out  their  theories  on  these  sub- 
jects. 

Having  spent  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  in 
clearing  land,  spanning  rivers  with  bridges,  making 
roads,  fencing  farms,  erecting  houses  and  mills,  it  en- 
tailed no  small  sacrifice  upon  them  to  go  to  a  distant 
place,  and  start  life  anew. 

But  with  them  no  sacrifice  was  too  great  to  make 
in  support  of  a  principle. 

With  this  end  in  view,  in  1666,  they  sent  agents 
to  examine  and  buy  lands  on  the  Passaic  River,  in  New 
Jersey. 

The  Agents  having  made  a  favorable  report,  a 
large  number  of  people  residing  in  Branford  held  a 
meeting  October  30,  1666,  and  drew  up  and  signed  a 
paper  setting  forth  the  civil  and  religious  principles 
upon  which  the  new  settlement  should  be  established, 
namely  :  "  first,  that  none  shall  be  freemen,  or  exercise 
the  franchise,  or  hold  office  therein  but  members  of  the 
church ;  second,  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
purity  of  religion  professed  in  the  Congregational 
Churches." 

The  following  Spring,  most  of  the  signers  of  this 
paper  left  Branford  with  their  Pastor,  the  Rev.  Abra- 
ham Pierson,  in  three  quaint  little  vessels  for  "  the 
town  on  the  Passaic  River." 


24  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,    OR 

The  company  consisted  of  thirty  families,  the  very 
flower  of  the  old  New  Haven  Colony. 

The  vessels  anchored  in  the  month  of  May  in  the 
Passaic  opposite  this  now  populous  city,  then  a  track- 
less wilderness. 

It  is  not  true,  as  stated  by  Trumbull  in  his  history 
of  Connecticut,  and  by  others,  that  they  carried  away 
the  town  records  of  Branford.  They  still  exist  in  the 
archives  of  that  place. 

The  first  to  land  was  Elizabeth  Swaine,  a  beautiful 
girl  of  nineteen ;  a  prophecy  of  the  loveliness  and  grace 
that  were  here  to  be  embodied  in  civil,  social  and  re- 
ligious institutions  in  the  years  to  come. 

The  emigrants,  after  apportioning  the  land  among 
themselves,  set  to  work  to  clear  it  for  cultivation ; 
reared  their  small  dwellings,  built  a  mill,  fenced  in  their 
holdings,  laid  out  the  streets,  organized  civil  govern- 
ment, provided  at  public  expense  for  the  preaching  of 
the  Word,  and  subsequently  for  the  erection  oi  a 
meeting  house. 

At  first  the  church  was  Congregational  in  its  form 
of  government,  but  fifty  years  later  it  became  connected 
with  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 

This  change  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  considering 
the  antecedents  and  environment  of  the  people. 

Cotton  Mather  says  that  of  the  twenty-two  thou- 
sand emigrants  who  came  over  to  New  England  before 
1640,  four  thousand  were  Presbyterians. 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge  says :  "The  English  Puritans 
were  all  Calvinists,  and  many  of  them  Presbyterians." 

Dr.  William  H.  Roberts,  in  his  history  of  the  Pres- 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  2$ 

byterian  Church,  says:  "Those  Colonists  who  had 
Presbyterian  tendencies  found  it  advantageous  to  settle 
in  Connecticut,  and  gradually  passed  thence  to  Long 
Island  and  Northern  New  Jersey." 

Concerning  the  original  settlers  of  this  city,  Dr. 
Hodge  says  :  "Those  who  settled  Newark  were  Pres- 
byterians.'' 

The  Cambridge  platform,  drawn  up  in  1648,  declares 
that  "The  ruling  elder's  office  is  distinguished  from  the 
office  of  Pastor  and  teacher,  and  that  the  decisions  of 
the  Synod,  so  far  as  consonant  with  the  Word  of  God, 
are  to  be  received  with  reverence  and  submission;''  and 
the  subsequent  assembly  which  met  in  Cambridge, 
enacted  that  ''Synods  proceeding  with  due  regard  to 
the  will  of  God  in  his  Word,  are  to  be  reverenced  as 
determining  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  things  necessary 
to  be  received  and  practiced,  and  it  is  but  reasonable 
that  their  judgment  be  acknowledged  as  decisive  in 
the  affairs  for  which  they  are  ordained." 

Dr.  McWhorter,  who  was  Pastor  of  the  First 
Church  a  little  over  a  century  after  the  founding  of  the 
Church,  says  concerning  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pierson,  the 
first  Pastor,  and  his  son,  who  succeeded  him  :  "These 
two  ministers,  tradition  relates,  were  Presbyterians,  but 
the  son  more  especially  so." 

In  a  manscript  history  of  Branford,  which  has 
come  into  my  hands,  it  is  stated  that  the  latter  left  the 
First  Church  in  Newark  because  "he  desired  more 
Presbyterianism  than  his  Church.'' 

The  two  Piersons,  father  and  son,  filled  the  pulpit 


26  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

up  to  1692,  and  August  23d  of  that  year  the  Rev.  John 
Pruden  was  called  as  the  third  pastor. 

Mr.  Pruden  came  from  Jamaica,  L.  I.,  and  the  Rev. 
Wm.  Hubbard,  who  was  called  to  succeed  Mr.  Pruden 
as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Jamaica,  in  Smith's  History 
of  New  York,  is  called  "a  Presbyterian,"  and  the  con- 
gregation is  styled  "a  Presbyterian  Church;"  so  we 
may  reasonably  conclude  that  Mr.  Pruden  had  strong 
Presbyterian  predilections. 

The  ecclesiastical  preference  of  these  men  for  the 
Presbyterian  form  of  government,  exercised  a  great 
influence  during  the  formative  period  of  the  church, 
from  1667  to  1709,  and  was  an  important  factor  in  de- 
termining it  to  unite  with  the  Presbytery  of  Philadel- 
phia. 

Another  factor  was  the  views  of  the  Scotch  Presby- 
terians, who  had  recently  emigrated  to  America,  and 
settled  in  Newark. 

Dr.  Sterns  says:  "The  Scotch  began  to  arrive  in 
great  numbers  from  and  after  the  year  1682,  when  the 
twenty-four  proprietors,  half  of  whom  were  from  Scot- 
land, assumed  the  direction  of  the  Province.  The 
Presbyterian  element  being  the  stronger  began  to  ab- 
sorb the  Congregational." 

These  things  account  for  the  change  from  the  Con- 
gregational to  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government. 

For  seventy  years,  the  line  between  civil  and  ec- 
clesiastical affairs  was  scarcely  perceptible,  the  town 
and  church  being  one. 

All  the  citizens  voted  to  call  the  minister,  and  all 
the  inhabitants  were  taxed  for  his  salary. 


THE   PURITANS  AND  THEIR  DESCENDANTS.  2J 

In  1676,  the  salary  was  paid  in  wheat,  peas,  pork, 
beef,  Indian  corn  and  rye,  at  their  market  value. 

The  minister  was  also  provided  with  wood  free  of 
charge. 

In  1699,  it  was  enacted  that  "All  persons  from  16 
to  66  years  of  age,  shall  give  to  Mr.  Pruden,  the  pastor, 
each  of  them,  one  load  of  wood  for  the  year  ensuing." 

When  the  first,  meeting  house  was  built,  each  male 
inhabitant  was  required  to  give  two  days'  work,  or  its 
equivalent;  and  when  it  was  repaired  in  1665,  it  was 
ordered  that  "All  men  above  16  years  of  age,  shall  from 
day  to  day,  as  their  turn  come,  attend  this  work  about  the 
meeting  house  until  it  be  finished,  and  bring  their  arms 
with  them;  twelve  men  is  appointed  to  appear  a  day.'' 

A  tavern-keeper  was  appointed  by  the  authorities, 
the  first  being  Henry  Lyon,  and  it  was  ordered  that 
"The  traveler  must  furnish  religious  testimonials  be- 
fore he  can  obtain  rest  or  refreshments." 

At  first  the  town  was  called  Milford,  but  in  the 
Spring  of  1670  it  received  its  present  name. 

The  meeting  house  was  in  course  of  erection  and 
a  meeting  was  called  to  provide  nails.  After  every 
man  was  compelled  to  furnish  "  voluntarily ''  a  specified 
quantity  of  nails,  prayer  was  offered. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Pierson,  Newark's  first  pastor,  had 
recently  died,  and  reference  being  made  to  his  former 
life  in  Newark,  England,  by  Mr.  Camfield,  it  was  re- 
solved that  Newark,  which  is  the  translation  of  the 
Latin  words  "  novum  opus,"  (new  work),  should  be 
the  name  of  the  town,  as  being  especially  adapted  to 
the  nature  of  their  undertaking. 


28  REMEMBERING  THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,    OR 

People  were  called  to  church  by  the  beating  of  a 
drum. 

A  committee  appointed  by  the  town  meeting  had 
charge  of  seating  the  people  in  church,  and  it  was 
resolved  that  "  The  rule  for  them  to  proceed  in  to  seat 
persons  by  is,  office,  age,  estate,  infirmity,  descent  or  pa- 
rentage, all  of  which  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
committee." 

The  children  were  seated  in  the  rear  of  the  church, 
and  the  beadle,  armed  with  a  long  pole,  was  set  over 
them  charged  with  preventing  misbehavior,  such  as 
sleeping  or  whispering,  by  prodding  them,  and  woe  to 
the  child  who  offended. 

It  appears  that  some  of  the  grown  people  also 
needed  watching  on  such  occasions,  and  were  often 
publicly  reproved. 

It  was  deemed  "  unbecoming,  improper  and  highly 
immoral  in  its  tendency  for  women  to  sing  in  church," 
because  Paul  had  commanded  that  "  the  women  keep 
silence  in  the  churches." 

The  Psalms  were  lined  out  by  one  of  the  Deacons. 

The  children  were  compelled  to  repeat  the  Cate- 
chism to  the  minister,  which  was  a  great  trial  to  them, 
but  it  made  them  the  strong,  noble  men  and  women 
they  afterward  became. 

Persons  desiring  to  unite  with  the  Church  were 
required  to  recite  their  religious  experience  before  the 
congregation. 

In  the  early  days  the  chief  men  of  the  community 
used  to  meet  and  discuss  the  sermons  they  had  heard, 
and  as  the  preaching  was  largely  doctrinal,  such  dis- 


THE   PURITANS  AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  29 

cussions  grounded  the  people  in  the  faith,  built  up  a 
community  second  to  none  in  all  the  elements  of  Chris- 
tian manhood,  and  trained  the  citizens  of  the  Colony  to 
participate  with  honor  in  the  battles  of  Trenton,  Prince- 
ton and  Monmouth. 

In  1 718,  in  order  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  in- 
creasing, population  for  religious  services,  a  society  was 
organized  by  the  Church  near  the  Orange  Mountains, 
which  is  now  known  as  the  First  Church  of  Orange. 

In  1 8 10  the  Second  Church,  of  this  city,  was  estab- 
lished, and  in  1824  the  Third  Church  was  organized. 

The  division  in  the  latter  case  being  caused  by 
conflicting  opinions  respecting  the  merits  of  two  can- 
didates for  the  vacant  pulpit  of  the  church. 

The  majority  desired  to  call  Mr.  Wm.  T.  Hamilton, 
and  the  minority  the  Rev.  Joshua  T.  Russell.  As  a 
consequence  the  minority  withdrew  and  constituted 
this  church,  which  was  organized  in  the  lecture  room 
of  the  First  Church,  June  8,  1824,  and  out  of  the  two 
hundred  and  forty-one  persons  who  were  received  into 
this  church  between  that  date  and  April  4,  1825,  when 
the  first  communion  service  was  observed,  more  than 
fifty  bore  the  names  of  many  of  the  original  settlers 
of  Newark,  and  a  very  much  larger  number  were  their 
descendants.  In  succeeding  years  a  number  of  the 
descendants  of  the  original  and  early  settlers  united 
with  this  church,  and  many  of  their  descendants  are 
members  of  it  to-day. 

Thus  this  church  is  in  the  direct  line  of  descent 
from  the  Puritans  of  Old  England,  who  emigrated  to 


30  REMEMBERING  THE   DAYS    OF   OLD,   OR 

New  England  in  1637,  founded  the  Colony  of  New 
Haven  in  1638,  and  came  to  Newark  in  1667. 

Last  Sabbath  evening  I  gave  sketches  of  the  former 
pastors  of  this  church,  and  necessarily  wove  into 
them  much  of  its  history,  so  that  there  remains  but 
little  to  tell.  Of  the  five  pastors  who  preceded  me,  two 
resigned  to  accept  Secretaryships  of  important  Boards 
of  the  Church;  one  became  Professor  in  Lane  Seminary; 
one  served  as  Professor  in  Beloit  College,  and  two  were 
honored  by  being  elected  to  the  Moderatorship  of  the 
General  Assembly.  They  were  all  men  of  distinguished 
ability  and  commanding  influence  in  the  Church. 

During  the  three-quarters  of  a  century  of  its  his- 
tory two  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-three  per- 
sons have  been  received  into  the  membership  of  this 
church.  It  has  enjoyed  many  precious  seasons  of 
revival,  and  the  past  eleven  years  have  been  character- 
ized by  a  steady  growth,  with  additions  on  confession 
of  faith  at  every  communion  season. 

Forty-one  persons  have  filled  the  office  of  Ruling 
Elder  until  the  present  time,  of  whom  twenty-nine  have 
been  called  to  join  the  glorified  company  of  Elders  be- 
fore the  throne,  and  are  now  clothed  in  white  raiment, 
and  wear  crowns  of  gold. 

The  number  of  colonies  sent  out  during  these  years 
exhibits,  in  some  degree,  the  growth  and  vigor  of  the 
church.  The  Sixth  and  High  Street  churches  were 
organized  during  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Brinsmade;  many 
members  of  this  church  being  dismissed  to  constitute 
them. 

In  the  interim  between  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Brins- 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR  DESCENDANTS.  3 1 

made  and  the  calling  of  Dr.  Craven,  the  South  Park 
Church  was  organized,  this  church  contributing  an 
elder  and  twenty-four  of  its  members  for  that  purpose. 

During  Dr.  Craven's  pastorate  Wyckliffe  and  Cal- 
vary churches  were  organized;  two  Elders  and  eighteen 
members  were  dismissed  to  the  former,  and  twenty-one 
to  the  latter. 

About  five  years  ago  a  new  work  was  inaugurated 
on  Clinton  Hill,  to  which  this  church  dismissed  ten  or 
twelve  persons;  it  is  now  known  as  the  Central 
Church. 

This  church  stands  in  the  forefront  in  the  matter 
of  benevolence.  Its  gifts  are  not  only  large,  but  what 
is  better,  they  are  dispensed  with  a  cheerfulness  and  a 
spontaneity  that  tells  that  the  giving  is  of  grace  and 
not  of  compulsion.  Roughly  estimated,  it  has  contrib- 
uted for  all  purposes  over  one  million  and  a  half  dollars. 

It  is  the  glory  of  this  church  that  it  has  always 
possessed  the  missionary  spirit. 

In  addition  to  its  own  mission  work,  and  the  colo- 
nies it  has  sent  out,  it  is  worthily  represented  in  the 
foreign  work  by  one  of  its  own  children,  Miss  A. 
Adelaide  Brown,  who  is  gathering  sheaves  for  the 
Master  in  the  distant  field  of  India,  and  lives  in  the 
affections  of  our  entire  people. 

Five  of  the  members  of  this  church  have  entered 
the  ministry,  namely  :  Robert  B.  Campfield,  Jr.,  James 
McDougal,  Henry  U.  Swinnerton,  Charles  E.  Craven 
and  Albert  Stonelake. 

As  we  look  over  the  past  we  see  much  to  regret; 
we  have    not   fully  improved   our  opportunities,   nor 


32  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

have  we  lived  as  near  to  the  Master  as  it  was  our  privi- 
lege to  have  done.  But  notwithstanding  our  many 
defects  and  derelictions,  God  has  been  with  and  richly 
blessed  us. 

The  long  path  of  years  has  been  radiant  with  His 
presence,  and  heavenly  benedictions  have  been  show- 
ered upon  us.  He  has  ever  had  a  chosen  people  here, 
those  who  were  the  light  of  the  world,  and  the  salt  of 
the  earth.  Together  with  you  I  recall  many  such  this 
morning,  who  once  dwelt  with  us  in  this  household  of 
faith,  but  "  are  not  for,  God  took  them." 

They  have  gone  home  to  our  Father's  house  on 
high  "  Where  their  many  mansions  be." 

As  I  think  of  them  they  seem  to  be  in  our  midst 
as  of  yore,  and  their  upturned  faces,  radiant  with  celes- 
tial purity  and  joy,  are  seen  in  their  old  pews,  and  I  feel 
once  more  the  touch  of  "vanished  hands,"  and  hear 
again  the  "  sound  of  voices  that  are  still.'' 

Are  we  not  privileged  to  think  of  the  sainted  ones 
in  glory  as  being  "  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them 
who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation  ?" 

May  we  not  hope  that  those  who  were  born  in  this 
Church,  and  toiled  and  sacrificed  for  it  life  long,  and 
have  exchanged  it  for  the  Upper  Sanctuary,  are  with 
us  to-day,  still  concerned  in  our  welfare,  and  rejoicing 
in  our  spiritual  prosperity  ? 

"  Surely,  yon  Heaven  where  Angels  see  God's  face 
Is  not  so  distant  as  we  deem 
From  this  low  earth,  tis  but  a  little  space, 
The  narrow  crossing  of  a  slender  stream. 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  33 

'Tis  but  a  veil  which  winds  might  blow  aside. 
Yes,  these  are  all  that  us  of  earth  divide 
From  the  bright  dwellings  of  the  glorified, 
The  land  of  which  we  dream." 


On  this  anniversary  occasion,  we  would  recall  the 
faithful  Pastors  who  have  stood  in  this  pulpit  proclaim- 
ing all  the  words  of  this  Life;  the  noble  Elders  who  con- 
stantly and  lovingly  watched  over  our  spiritual  interests; 
the  Trustees,  to  whose  wisdom  and  fidelity  we  are 
indebted  for  the  prosperous  condition  of  the  temporali- 
ties of  the  Church ;  the  consecrated  women  whose 
prayer  services  and  Missionary  Societies  have  contrib- 
uted so  largely  to  our  spiritual  advancement ;  the  de- 
voted officers  and  teachers  of  our  Sabbath  Schools,  and 
a  host  of  Christ-like  ones,  who  once  worshipped  here, 
who  have  gone  to  take  their  stations  near  the  throne 
of  God. 

While  we  thank  God  for  such  an  inheritance  of 
godly  men  and  women,  we  pray  that  their  mantles  may 
fall  on  us,  and  their  example  inspire  us  to  live  a  more 
Christ-like  life,  and  perform  larger  and  more  loving 
service  for  the  Master. 

Such  a  review  should  fit  us  to  face  the  future  with 
renewed  courage  and  hope,  and  enable  us  to  make  it  far 
more  worthy  of  our  Puritan  ancestry,  than  the  past  has 
been. 

We  are  the  heirs  of  a  precious  legacy,  and  that  fact 
places  upon  us  responsibility  for  the  future. 

What  this  individual  Church  shall  be  in  the  years 
that  stretch  out  before  us,  depends  in  a  large  measure 
upon  our  fidelity  to  our  sacred  trust. 


34  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

Great  have  been  the  changes  of  the  last  five  and 
seventy  years;  at  the  beginning  of  that  period,  the 
population  of  the  United  States  of  America  was  about 
ten  millions;  to-day  it  is  seventy-five  millions;  then,  it 
covered  an  area  of  one  million  eight  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  square  miles;  to-day  it  covers  an  area  of  three 
million  five  hundred  and  ninety-two  thousand  square 
miles,  exclusive  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  our  re- 
cently acquired  territory  from  Spain. 

Within  this  period,  the  telegraph,  photography, 
the  telephone,  gas,  the  electric  light,  sewing  and  type- 
setting machines,  the  phonograph  and  the  typewriter 
have  been  invented;  steam  navigation  perfected,  and 
the  Atlantic  cable  laid. 

Then  it  took  three  weeks  for  news  to  reach  towns 
one  thousand  miles  distant  from  New  York;  to-day 
the  evening  papers  chronicle  the  events  of  the  morning 
in  the  Capitols  of  the  world. 

The  French  Empire  has  fallen,  and  on  its  ruins,  has 
risen  a  Republic. 

The  Franco- German  War  has  been  fought,  and 
Germany  unified. 

The  overthrow  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope 
has  given  liberty  to  Italy;  and  the  onward  march  of 
civilization  has  emancipated  the  serfs  of  the  Russian 
Empire,  abolished  slavery  in  Brazil,  and  given  liberty 
to  four  million  slaves  in  this  country,  and  within  a  few 
months  our  territorial  bounds  have  been  extended  to 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  grown  from  seventy- 
five  thousand  communicants,  to  one  millon  five  hundred 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  35 

thousand ;  its  seven  hundred  and  fifty  ministers,  to 
ten  thousand,  and  its  benevolent  contributions,  from 
fifteen  thousand  dollars,  to  two  million  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

Great  as  the  changes  of  the  past  seventy-five  years 
have  been,  they  are  in  my  judgment  simply  indcations 
of  the  still  greater  changes  that  await  us. 

"We  are  living,  we  are  dwelling 

In  a  grand  but  awful  time, 
In  an  age  on  ages  telling, 

To  be  living  is  sublime." 

I  believe  that  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  the  inheritors  of  their  faith,  are  like  them, 
after  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half,  to  go  into  the 
wilderness  of  the  Islands,  we  have  so  recently  acquired, 
and  the  vast  Empires  of  China  and  India,  at  whose  gates 
we  stand,  in  the  providence  of  God,  beneath  the  arch 
of  a  new  century,  and  extend  the  blessings  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  to  benighted  millions. 

"Lo  another  age  is  rising,  in  the  coming  years  I  see 

Hopes,  and  promises  of  blessings,  light  and  love,  and  liberty. 

All  the  good  the  past  hath  garnered,  all  the  present  yet  hath  won, 

Fade  before  the  glorious  future  like  the  stars  before  the  sun." 

This  is  the  radiant  future  as  it  rises  in  its  beauty 
and  majesty  before  my  vision,  and  in  its  labors  and  tri- 
umphs I  pray  that  this  Church  may  have  a  conspicuous 
part,  a  part  worthy  of  her  history. 

But   for  all  of  us  there   is  a  present  duty.     This 


2,6  REMEMBERING   THE   DAYS   OF   OLD,   OR 

glad  occasion  calls  for  our  renewed  consecration 
to  Him  who  has  led  and  blessed  us  so  long-  and  so 
richly,  "  That  the  new  century  break  not  the  olden 
chain." 

What  we  need,  and  what  we  should  earnestly  pray 
for,  is  the  Baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  shall  quicken 
the  spiritual  life  of  our  entire  membership,  and  cause 
every  man  to  do  his  duty  cheerfully  and  faithfully,  and 
so  make  our  Church  'fa  fruitful  bough,  even  a  fruitful 
bough  by  a  well,  whose  branches  run  over  the  wall." 

Let  us  gather  up  the  discoveries  and  inventions  of 
the  past ;  our  culture  and  wealth,  and  the  forces  of 
our  civilization,  together  with  our  National  power  and 
influence,  and  employ  them  all  for  the  enthronement  of 
Christ  as  the  King  of  Nations;  let  the  Press  print  the 
everlasting  Word  of  God;  let  our  Colleges  and  Uni- 
versities train  men  to  preach  the  glorious  Gospel;  let 
steam  and  electricity  be  employed  to  carry  the  Script- 
ures and  missionaries  to  the  ends  of  the  earth;  let  the 
telegraph  flash  the  tidings  of  salvation  through  faith 
in  the  Crucified  Christ  around  the  globe,  and  bring 
back  the  answer  of  nations  born  in  a  day;  let  science 
and  philosophy  become  the  hand-maids  of  Christianity, 
and  let  our  wealth  and  commercial  spirit  and  enterprise 
be  consecrated  to  the  carrying  out  of  these  exalted  pur- 
poses. Only  thus  can  we  be  faithful  to  the  high  and 
sacred  trust  committed  to  our  hands  by  the  Puritan 
fathers,  triumphantly  carry  forward  that  mighty  and 
blessed  work  for  which  the  Church  is  ordained  of  God, 
and  truthfully  and  exultingly  proclaim, 


THE   PURITANS  AND   THEIR   DESCENDANTS.  37 

"The  Pilgrim  Spirit  has  not  fled; 

It  walks  in  noon's  broad  light, 
And  it  watches  the  bed  of  the  glorious  dead, 

With  the  holy  stars  by  night. 

It  watches  the  bed  of  the  brave  who  have  bled, 

And  shall  guard  this  ice-bound  shore 
Till  the  waves  of  the  bay  where   the  Mayflower  lay 

Shall  foam  and  freeze  no  more." 

When  Moses  said  to  the  children  of  Israel  "  Re- 
member the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years  of  many 
generations;  ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  shew  thee;  thy 
elders,  and  they  will  teach  thee,"  it  was  for  the  purpose 
of  awakening  within  them  a  spirit  of  gratitude,  and 
calling  forth  their  songs  of  thanksgiving  to  Him  who 
had  "kept  them  as  the  apple  of  His  eye,"  "led  them," 
and  "made  them  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth." 

As  we  review,  on  this  anniversary  occasion,  God's 
wondrous  dealings  with  us  as  a  Church,  let  not  only 
our  lips  but  our  hearts  join  in  the  Apostolic  ascription 
of  praise,  saying : 

"  Now  unto  Him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding,  abundantly, 
above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according  to  the  power  that 
worketh  in  us,  Unto  Him  be  glory  in  the  Church  by  Christ 
Jesus,  throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end.    Amen." 


Short  Sketches  of  Former  Pastors 

BY 

REV.  A.  NELSON  HOLLIFIELD.  D.D. 

DELIVERED 

Sabbath  Evening,  June  4TH,  1899. 


It  is  my  purpose  this  evening,  in  a  very  simple 
manner,  to  sketch  the  lives  of  the  former  pastors  of 
this  church. 

The  seventy- fifth  anniversary  of  its  organization 
will  occur  on  Thursday  next,  and  in  that  time  it  has 
had  six  pastors — namely  : 

Rev.  Joshua  T.  Russell, 

Rev.  Baxter  Dickinson,  D.  D., 

Rev.  Selah  B.  Treat,  D.  D., 

Rev.  Horatio  N.  Brinsmade,  D.  D., 

Rev.  Elijah  R.  Craven,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  your 
speaker. 

I  have  experienced  considerable  difficulty  in  gath- 
ing  material  suitable  for  this  occasion. 

For  many  things  I  have  no  better  authority  than 
tradition ;  the  testimony  of  reliable  men  and  women, 
who  tell  of  the  things  which  their  fathers  and  mothers, 
who  were  witnesses  of  them,  related  to  them.  In  my 
judgment  such  evidence,  owing  to   the  comparatively 


40  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

brief  time  covered  by  our  ecclesiastical  history,  and  the 
character  of  the  witnesses,  is  trustworthy. 

The  history  which  is  gathered  up  on  such  occa- 
sions as  this,  may  seem  unimportant  to  us,  but  if  it  is 
preserved  in  some  permanent  form,  it  will  instruct  the 
generations  that  come  after  us,  in  the  character,  and 
labors,  and  record  of  the  men  of  God,  at  whose 
feet  their  fathers  and  forefathers  sat,  and  through 
whose  faithful  ministry  they  were  led  to  the  Cross  of 
Calvary,  and  were  edified  and  made  "  meet  for  the  in- 
heritance of  the  saints  in  light."  Such  biographical 
contributions  are  also  a  source  of  information  concern- 
ing wider  fields,  and  serve  as  side  lights  that  make 
luminous  and  clear  portions  of  history  that  would 
otherwise  be  perplexing. 

The  first  pastor  of  this  Church  was  the  Rev. 
Joshua  T.  Russell. 

After  the  resignation  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richards,  the 
distinguished  and  beloved  pastor  of  the  First  Church, 
in  October,  1823,  several  candidates  for  the  vacant  pul. 
pit  were  heard. 

Among  the  number  was  Mr.  William  T.  Hamilton, 
a  licentiate  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  a  young 
man  of  splendid  pulpit  abilities  ;  he  made  such  a  favora- 
ble impression,  that  a  large  number  of  the  people  ex- 
pressed their  desire  to  call  him  to  the  important  pastor- 
ate ;  others,  however,  were  not  pleased  with  him,  and 
they  prevailed  upon  the  Session  to  extend  an  invitation 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Russell,  of  Norfolk,  Va.,  to  preach 
trial  sermons  as  a  candidate. 

Tradition  says  that  their  attention   had   been  di- 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  41 

rected  to  him  by  the  Professors  at  Princeton  as  a 
suitable  successor  to  the  able  Dr.  Richards. 

The  result  of  hearing  these  two  candidates  was  a 
division  of  sentiment  in  the  congregation  so  strong  as 
to  create  irreconcilable  factions,  and  the  outcome  of  it 
was  the  organization  of  the  Third  Church.  Those  who 
remained  in  the  First  Church  called  Mr.  Hamilton, 
while  those  who  formed  the  Third  Church  extended  a 
unanimous  call  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Russell  June  14th,  1824, 
and  he  was  duly  installed  as  pastor  of  this  church  July 
13th.  Though  Mr.  Russell  came  from  Virginia  to 
Newark,  I  am  informed  by  one  who  is  familiar  with 
the  early  history  of  this  church,  that  he  was  a  native  of 
Scotland.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Russell  left 
behind  him  no  manuscript  or  printed  sermons  from 
which  to  get  an  idea  of  his  style  and  ability  as  a 
preacher.  Those  who  heard  him  preach  tell  us  he  was 
an  orator  of  no  mean  order,  and  exercised  great  influ- 
ence over  his  audiences,  swaying  them  at  will. 

He  was  regarded  as  an  able  preacher  of  the  gospel, 
which  he  preached  with  remarkable  clearness  and 
directness. 

He  was  earnest  and  sympathetic,  and  these  two 
elements  entered  largely  into  his  preaching  and  gave 
it  great  power. 

That  he  must  have  been  far  more  than  an  ordi- 
nary preacher  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  he  divided 
the  congregation  of  the  First  Church  when  he  candi- 
dated  for  its  pulpit  against  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  orators  the  American  pulpit 
has  ever  known. 


42  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

For  beauty  of  diction,  clearness  of  thought,  force 
of  logic  and  lofty  eloquence  but  few  names  stand 
higher  on  the  roll  of  great  American  preachers  than 
that  of  the  Rev.  William  T.  Hamilton,  D.  D.  Dr. 
Peabody,  the  distinguished  Unitarian  divine  of  New 
England,  having  heard  Dr.  Hamilton  preach  in  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama,  said :  "  He  is  the  greatest  preacher 
I  ever  heard.''  And  this  was  the  universal  verdict. 
I  say  the  fact  that  Mr.  Russell  was  able  to  compete 
as  successfully  as  he  did  with  such  a  brilliant  man  as 
Dr.  Hamilton  proves  that  he  was  a  man  of  ability 
himself. 

A  sister  of  Mr.  Russell  was  greatly  devoted  to 
the  work  of  the  church,  and  displayed  great  wisdom  in 
prosecuting  it.  In  addition  to  teaching  a  Bible  class, 
she  organized  a  Sabbath  school  for  colored  children. 
It  was  during  Mr.  Russell's  pastorate  that  this  edifice 
was  built,  the  church  placed  upon  a  firm  foundation, 
and  started  upon  its  long  career  of  usefulness. 

After  five  years  of  service  during  which  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  persons  were  received  into  the 
membership  of  the  church  (not  counting  those  received 
before  the  first  communion,  and  who  may  be  re- 
garded as  charter  members),  Mr.  Russell  resigned 
the  pastorate  June  29th,  1829,  and  served  as  the 
General  Agent  of  the  Assembly's  Board  of  Missions. 
Subsequently  he  became  a  Baptist  clergyman.  He 
died  in  connection  with  that  denomination  in  1854,  in 
the  State  of  Mississippi.  Whatever  may  have  been  his 
faults,  it  is  the  opinion  of  those  who  knew  him  and 
watched  his  career  from  the  time  he  left  Newark  until 


SHORT  SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  43 

his  death,  that  he  was  a  good  man  and  that  death  to 
him  was  gain. 

The  second  pastor  of  this  church  was  the  Rev. 
Baxter  Dickinson,  D.  D.  Dr.  Dickinson  was  unani- 
mously called  September  8th,  1829. 

He  resigned  the  pastorate  of  the  Congregational 
Church  of  Long  Meadow,  Massachusetts,  to  accept  the 
call  of  this  congregation,  and  was  duly  installed  as  pas- 
tor over  this  church  November  17th,  1829. 

Dr.  Dickinson  was  a  scholarly  man,  of  unusual 
pulpit  ability.  His  published  sermons  and  books  were 
read  by  a  large  circle  and  won  unstinted  and  well 
nigh  universal  praise.  He  was  the  author  of  the  cele- 
brated "Auburn  Declaration,"  the  original  manuscript 
of  which  my  friend,  Professor  Smith,  of  Lane  Seminary 
Cincinnati,  informs  me  is  preserved  in  the  archives 
of  that  institution.  That  paper  alone  would  have  been 
sufficient  in  itself  to  stamp  Dr.  Dickinson  as  a  man  of 
great  intellectuality,  and  would  have  given  him  un- 
dying fame  in  the  history  of  Presbyterianism. 

During  Dr.  Dickinson's  pastorate,  the  churches  of 
Newark  were  visited  by  a  gracious  outpouring  of  the 
Divine  Spirit.  Christians  were  revived,  the  community 
deeply  stirred,  and  many  souls  converted. 

At  that  time  there  was  introduced  into  the  revival 
meetings  what  was  then  called  "The  New  Method;" 
that  is,  persons  were  asked  to  signify  their  desire  to  be 
prayed  for  by  standing  up  in  the  congregation.  Such 
a  thing  being  new  in  this  community,  many  opposed  it, 
and  among  the  latter,  Dr.  Dickinson;  he  refused  to 
adopt  it,  and  said  if  any  persons  desired  to  consult  him 


44  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF  FORMER    PASTORS. 

in  regard  to  their  spiritual  concerns,  and  wished  to  be 
prayed  for,  he  would  be  pleased  to  meet  them  in  the 
rooms  in  the  rear  of  the  church.  Mr.  Hamilton,  of  the 
First  Church,  zealously  adopted  the  new  method,  and 
this  difference  of  opinion  and  practice  between  Hamil- 
ton and  Dickinson  caused  considerable  feeling  among 
the  members  of  the  two  churches.  Dr.  Dickinson 
firmly  maintained  his  position,  and  won  the  reputation 
of  being  a  strict  conservative. 

His  course  in  this  matter  was  upheld  by  the  Session 
and  the  congregation,  who  were  in  sympathy  with  him. 
They  were  satisfied  with  "  the  old  paths,"  and  did  not 
propose  to  abandon  them  without  sufficient  cause  and 
careful  consideration.  The  law  of  heredity  has  entailed 
this  conservative  spirit  upon  the  Third  Church  of 
to-day. 

During  Dr.  Dickinson's  pastorate  the  temperance 
question  came  to  the  front.  It  was  the  all-absorbing 
topic  of  the  day.  The  waves  of  intemperance  were 
rolling  high  and  strong  over  the  land,  threatening  to 
destroy  it.  Decanters  stood  on  almost  every  sideboard; 
not  only  private  Christians  but  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
used  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

Dr.  Dickinson  boldly  arrayed  himself  on  the  side 
of  temperance,  and  blew  trumpet  blasts  that  were  heard 
far  and  wide. 

Soon  after  his  settlement  here  he  preached  a  pow- 
erful sermon  on  this  subject,  entitled  "  Alarm  to  Distil- 
lers and  their  Allies." 

He  took  for  his  text  Eccl.  vii :  29 — "  God  hath 
made  man  upright ;  but  they  have  sought  out  many  in- 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  45 

ventions,''  and  Hab.  2  :  15,  "  Woe  unto  him  that  giveth 
his  neighbor  drink." 

He  said  in  part :  "  The  art  of  turning  the  products 
of  the  earth  into  a  fiery  spirit,  was  discovered  by  an 
Arab  about  nine  hundred  years  ago.  The  effects  of 
this  abuse  of  Nature's  gifts  were  soon  perceived  with 
alarm.  Efforts  were  made,  even  by  heathen  people, 
to  arrest  the  evil;  and  it  shows  the  mighty  agency 
and  cunning  of  Satan,  that  even  Christian  nations 
should  have  been  induced  to  adopt  and  encourage  this 
deadliest  of  man's  inventions. 

"  In  the  guilt  of  encouraging  the  destructive  art 
our  own  free  country  has  largely  participated.  Fifteen 
years  ago,  as  appears  from  well  authenticated  sta- 
tistics, our  number  of  distilleries  had  risen  to  nearly 
forty  thousand,  and,  till  within  three  or  four  ago  past, 
the  progress  of  intemperance  threatened  all  that  was 
fair  and  glorious  in  our  prospects. 

"  The  reformation  recently  commenced  is  one  of 
the  grandest  movements  of  our  world  ;  and  to  secure 
its  speedy  triumph,  the  concurrence  of  distillers  is 
obviously  indispensable.  They  must  cease  to  provide 
the  destroying  element.  This  they  are  urged  to  do  by 
the  following  considerations.''  Dr.  Dickinson  then 
assigned  the  following  reasons,  which  he  fully  elabor- 
ated, why  distillers  should  abandon  their  business : 

"  1.  The  business  of  distilling  confers  no  benefits  on 
your  fellowmen. 

2.  It  is  the  occasion  of  many  evils. 

3.  It  destroys  to  a  great  extent  the  bounties  of 
Providence. 


46  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

4.  It  offends  greatly  the  virtuous  and  respectable 
part  of  the  community. 

5.  You  pursue  a  pernicious  calling  in  opposition  to 
great  light. 

6.  Perseverance  in  the  business  must  necessarily 
be  at  the  expense  of  your  own  reputation  and  that  of 
posterity. 

7.  And  by  continuing  in  it  you  peculiarly  offend 
God,  and  jeopard  your  immortal  interests.'' 

We  may  obtain  some  idea  from  this  sermon  of  his 
logical  powers,  and  his  originality  and  boldness  as  a 
preacher,  for  the  sermon  was  addressed  to  distillers. 

After  six  years  of  pastoral  labor,  on  November 
17th,  1835,  during  which  two  hundred  and  thirty-two 
persons  were  received  into  the  membership  of  the 
Church,  the  relation  was  dissolved,  at  the  request  of 
Dr.  Dickinson,  by  the  Presbytery,  in  order  that  he  might 
become  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Pastoral  Theology 
in  Lane  Seminary,  in  which  position  he  served  until 
1839,  wnen  he  resigned  to  accept  a  similar  position  in 
Auburn  Theological  Seminary;  he  remained  there  until 
1847.  He  served  as  Acting  Professor,  in  the  same  de- 
partment, in  the  Seminary  at  Andover  in  1848. 

From  1848  to  1857  he  engaged  in  the  work  of  the 
American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  becoming  one 
of  its  Secretaries,  and  also  in  the  work  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Commissioners  lor  Foreign  Missions. 

Four  years  after  severing  his  connection  with  this 
church,  or  in  May,  1839,  ne  was  elected  Moderator  of 
the  New  School  General  Assembly,  at  its  second  meet- 
ing, in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER     PASTORS.  47 

Dr.  Dickinson,  after  a  life  of  great  usefulness,  died 
in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  December  7th, 
1875,  m  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age. 

He  was  a  great  and  good  man,  honored  of  God, 
and  esteemed  and  loved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

The  third  pastor  of  this  church  was  the  Rev.  Selah 
Burr  Treat,  D.  D.,  who  was  called  January  13th,  1836, 
and  was  ordained  and  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Newark  March  226.  of  the  same  year. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  one  hundred  and 
seventy  years  before  this,  one  of  Mr.  Treat's  ancestors, 
Captain  Robert  Treat,  together  with  others,  came  from 
Milford,  Branford  and  Guilford,  Conn.,  to  inspect  this 
section  of  New  Jersey  with  a  view  to  a  permanent  set- 
tlement, and  a  year  later  Captain  Treat,  who  was  the 
most  important  man  in  the  company,  led  out  a  Con- 
necticut Colony  to  this  spot,  and  founded  Newark.  In 
the  division  of  the  land  it  was  agreed  that  six  acres 
should  constitute  a  lot,  with  the  exception  of  the  home 
lot  of  Captain  Treat,  which  it  was  ordered  should  con- 
tain eight  acres,  and  he  was  given  the  first  choice.  He 
was  chosen  the  first  Town  Clerk;  was  made  one  of  the 
Magistrates,  and  was  also  elected  to  represent  the  town 
in  the  General  Assembly,  a  body  corresponding  to  the 
Legislature.  In  1670  he  returned  to  Connecticut,  and 
for  many  years  was  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
Colony  in  civil,  military  and  religious  affairs.  As  a 
military  man  he  achieved  great  distinction.  He  was 
Governor  of  Connecticut  in  1687. 

It  must  have  been  exceedingly  gratifying  to  the 
fathers  of  this  church  to  enjoy  the  pulpit  ministrations 


48  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

of  one  of  the  lineal  descendants  of  "the  first  citizen"  of 
the  Colony  that  established  itself  here  in  1667. 

Before  entering  the  ministry  Mr.  Treat  practiced 
law  in  Connecticut  and  New  York,  in  which  latter  pro- 
fession he  made  himself  a  high  reputation  for  legal  abil- 
ity, and  gave  every  promise  of  achieving  great  distinc- 
tion at  the  bar.  It  was  the  opinion  of  able  lawyers  that 
"if  he  had  not  left  the  legal  profession  he  would  have 
been  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States."  He  was  converted  in  the  great  revival 
in  1831-32  and  immediately  began  his  preparation  for 
the  Gospel  ministry,  to  which  he  felt  called  of  God. 
His  call  to  this  church  followed  in  1836. 

Owing  to  Dr.  Treat's  ill  health,  he  felt  compelled  to 
resign  June  24th,  1840,  after  a  very  successful  pastorate, 
during  which  there  were  added  to  the  membership  127 
persons.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  spirituality  and  his 
sermons  were  characterized  by  a  high  order  of  intel- 
lect, and  great  impressiveness  in  their  delivery. 

After  his  resignation  he  became  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Biblical  Repository  and  American  Eclectic,  a  peri- 
odical published  in  New  York;  to  which  city  he  re- 
moved with  his  family;  and  instead  of  connecting  him- 
self with  one  of  the  strong  and  wealthy  churches,  he 
cast  in  his  lot  with  a  small  and  struggling  mission 
church,  where  he  could  make  himself  useful  and  give 
needed  financial  help. 

In  1843,  he  became  connected  with  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  at  first 
as  editor  of  the  Missionary  Herald  and  Youths'  Day 
Spring;  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  was  made  Record- 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  49 

ing  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  on  the  death  of  Dr. 
Armstrong  in  1847,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretaries  of  the  Board,  to  have  special 
charge  of  the  work  among  the  Indians,  and  in  1859 
he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  Home  Department  also. 
He  was  a  modest  man,  self-possessed,  and  of  great 
kindness  of  heart. 

He  was  wise  in  counsel,  courteous  in  manner,  and 
of  great  executive  ability.  He  was  cheerful  and  com- 
panionable. He  was  charitable  in  judgment  upon  other 
men's  labor.  With  his  quick  eye  he  could  see  a  logical 
or  literary  defect  in  their  work,  which  others  might  not 
notice ;  but  it  was  not  in  his  heart  to  magnify  this  defect, 
but  rather  to  seek  after  that  which  was  good  and  could 
be  justly  commended. 

He  was  a  writer  of  superior  merit;  says  one :  "  As 
a  writer  of  good  English,  for  accuracy  and  elegance 
Dr.  Treat  had  few  equals  in  this  or  any  other  land." 
We  may  get  an  idea  of  his  ability  as  a  writer  from  one 
or  two  passages  from  his  productions. 

In  1867,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  at 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  an  address  of  great  eloquence  and 
power  on  "  The  Claims  of  China  Upon  Christians  in 
America,"  he  said :  "  If  we  look  at  the  Empire  of  China 
as  a  whole,  we  find  it,  with  one  exception,  the  largest 
that  has  ever  existed;  its  position,  moreover,  is  singu- 
larly felicitous.  Lying  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
great  plateau  of  Central  Asia,  and  for  this  reason  ever 
looking  toward  the  Pacific,  it  has  resources  of  incon- 
ceivable diversity  and  richness.  Embracing  as  it  does 
thirty-eight  degrees   of   latitude   and  seventy-four  de- 


50  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

grees  of  longitude,  occupying  every  conceivable  alti- 
tude from,  the  sea  line  to  the  snow  line,  its  soil  has 
yielded  for  ages  whatever  is  needful,  whether  for 
the  comfort  or  the  luxury  of  man.  *  *  *  Let  us 
assume  400,000,000  as  the  population  of  the  Empire; 
and  let  us  suppose  them  to  pass  before  us,  say  five 
abreast,  at  the  pace  of  one  mile  an  hour.  From 
morning  to  night,  from  night  to  morning,  the  ear  is 
dulled  with  their  heavy,  incessant  tread.  Who,  now, 
will  stand  and  wait  until  the  last  detachment  shall  have 
marched  by?  A  procession  of  a  few  thousands  be- 
comes to  the  spectator  not  infrequently  a  source  of 
painful  weariness ;  but  these  dusky  forms,  these  chil- 
dren of  dark  hearts,  will  consume  seven  years  in  de- 
filing before  us,  a  long,  unresting  funeral  train. 

"  We  are  awestruck  and  confounded.  Myriads 
upon  myriads,  millions  upon  millions,  all  journeying, 
pke  ourselves,  to  the  judgment  seat,  and  all  ignorant  of 
the  way  of  life. '' 

On  another  occasion,  in  reviewing  the  history  of 
missions  in  New  England,  he  paid  this  glowing  tribute 
to  Brainerd,  the  great  missionary  to  the  Indians :  "  Da- 
vid Brainerd,  dying  under  thirty,  and  yet  gathering  a 
harvest  marvellous  for  its  preciousness,  and  then  leav- 
ing a  complete  life,  so  radiant  with  celestial  beauty 
that  it  must  always  be  reckoned  among  the  choicest 
possessions  of  the  brotherhood  of  Christ." 

This  distinguished  man  of  God  passed,  suddenly 
to  his  heavenly  home  March  28th,  1877,  in  the  seventy 
fourth   year  of  his  age. 

The  fourth  pastor  of  this  church  was  the  Rev.  Ho- 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  5 1 

ratio  N.  Brinsmade,  D.  D.,  who  was  called  to  its 
pastorate  July  6th,  1841. 

At  the  time  he  was  pastor  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.;  the  call  was  accepted 
by  him,  and  he  was  duly  installed  by  the  Presbytery 
September  23d  of  the  same  year. 

Before  entering  upon  the  full  work  of  the  ministry 
Dr.  Brinsmade  was  an  instructor  in  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Institution  at  Hartford,  Conn.  He  was  ordained  in 
1828,  and  served  the  North  Congregational  Church 
of  Hartford  a  year. 

From  Hartford  he  went  to  Collinsville,  Conn., 
where  he  gathered  a  church  ;  thence  he  went  to  Pitts- 
field,  Mass.,  from  whence  he  was  called  to  the  Third 
Church. 

Dr.  Brinsmade  was  a  plain  but  earnest  and  forceful 
preacher  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  did  not 
equal  his  predecessors  in  analytical  power,  or  dialectic 
skill,  or  rhetorical  finish,  or  oratorical  display,  but  none 
of  them  preached  a  purer  gospel  or  lived  nearer  to  the 
Master  than  this  large-hearted  and  consecrated  man  of 
God. 

His  kind,  loving,  sympathetic  nature,  which  con- 
stantly expressed  itself  in  word  and  deed  and  the  warm 
grasp  of  the  hand  and  the  cheerful  countenance,  all  re- 
minded one  of  the  beloved  disciple.  He  was  a  model 
pastor  and  in  constant  attendance  on  the  sick  and 
afflicted.  He  knew  the  name  of  every  child  in  the  par- 
ish, and  was  dearly  beloved  by  the  young.  He  was 
the  friend  of  the  poor  and  oppressed,  to  whom  he  ever 
extended  substantial  assistance.     I  think  I  may  safely 


52  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

say  that  but  few  ministers,  if  any,  ever  more  fully  won 
and  kept  the  love  and  confidence  of  their  people  than 
Dr.  Brinsmade. 

To-day,  well  nigh  fifty  years  after  his  retirement 
from  the  pastorate  of  this  church,  he  lives  enshrined 
in  the  hearts  of  multitudes,  and  his  name  is  "  as  ointment 
poured  out." 

His  very  presence  was  a  benediction,  and  his  pure, 
helpful  life  was  the  embodiment  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

As  I  review  the  history  of  the  pastors  of  this  church 
I  clearly  see  the  manifestation  of  the  wisdom  of  God  in 
so  ordering  events  in  His  providence,  that  Dr.  Brins- 
made was  called  to  succeed  the  previous  pastors,  and 
especially  Drs.  Treat  and  Dickinson. 

After  enjoying  the  ministrations  of  such  profound 
and  scholarly  divines,  among  the  very  ablest  in  the 
land,  princes  among  preachers,  men  who  spent  the 
most  of  their  time  in  the  study,  and  who  made  the  pul- 
pit their  throne,  whence  they  swayed  the  sceptre  of  a 
mighty  and  far-reaching  influence,  moulding  opinion 
and  controlling  conduct  in  questions  vital  with  the 
highest  interests  of  men,  both  in  time  and  in  eternity, 
the  people  of  this  church  no  doubt  needed  a  man 
like  Dr.  Brinsmade,  to  move  their  emotional  nature 
as  deeply  as  Drs.  Dickinson  and  Treat  had  quickened 
their  intellectual  perceptions,  producing  in  their  minds 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  their  important  message. 

Heart  as  well  as  head  must  be  influenced ;  emo- 
tions as  well  as  intellect  must  be  brought  under  the 
power  of  divine  truth  and  grace,  in  order  that  the  gos- 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  53 

pel  may  work  its  mighty  transformation  in  human  char- 
acter and  life. 

One  of  the  dangers  that  threatens  Christianity  to- 
day is  the  undue  emphasis  that  is  being  laid  upon  intel- 
lectual faith,  an  emphasis  so  strong  in  some  quarters  as 
to  utterly  ignore,  or  at  least  to  make  secondary,  the 
need  of  a  new  birth. 

Yea,  it  has  been  carried  to  such  an  extreme  that 
with  thousands  rationalism  has  taken  the  place  of  reve- 
lation, and  ethical  culture  has  supplanted  regeneration. 
I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  predecessors  of  Dr.  Brins- 
made  simply  influenced  the  intellect  of  their  hearers; 
beyond  all  doubt,  from  what  I  can  learn  of  the  men, 
they  also  moved  them  in  some  measure  in  their  emo- 
tional nature;  but  the  probability  is  that  their  influence 
was  more  along  intellectual  than  emotional  lines,  and 
that  which  the  church  needed  at  the  time  now  under 
consideration,  was  a  man  who,  by  his  love  and 
sympathy,  and  tender  appeals,  and  constant  and  inti- 
mate association  in  the  family  circle,  should  reach  the 
hearts  of  men  and  induce  them  to  live  out,  more  fully, 
their  intellectual  convictions.  And  this  Dr.  Brinsmade 
did  for  a  period  of  twelve  years,  during  which  four 
hundred  and  forty-four  persons  were  received  into  the 
membership  of  the  church.  During  his  pastorate  a 
new  building  was  erected  in  the  rear  of  the  church 
for  prayer  meeting  and  Sabbath  school  purposes. 

This  was  in  1845.  Previous  to  that  time  the  Sab- 
bath school  met  in  the  basement  of  this  edifice.  Dr.  S. 
Irenaeus  Prime,  editor  of  the  New  York  Observer,  was 
the  Superintendent  of  it,  and  it  is  said  that  that  which 


54  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

led  to  the  erection  of  the  additional  building-  was  the 
remark  of  Dr.  Prime,  that  he  didn't  "believe  in  getting- 
under  ground  until  you  had  to." 

In  1836  this  church  united  with  the  Newark  Pres- 
bytery, in  the  New  School  Assembly,  but  in  August, 
1850,  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  congregation,  it  with- 
drew from  that  body  and  united  with  the  Elizabeth 
Presbytery,  which  was  connected  with  the  Old  School 
body.  Undoubtedly  the  influence  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  S. 
Prime  and  his  son  lrenseus,  who  were  connected  with 
the  congregation,  the  former  supplying  the  pulpit  dur- 
ing Dr.  Brinsmade's  absence  from  home,  and  the  latter 
being  Superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  school  for  many 
years,  had  much  to  do  with  this  change;  as  a  result  of 
it  a  great  many  of  the  most  influential  families  in  the 
church  withdrew. 

It  is  said  that  Dr.  Nathaniel  S.  Prime,  who  was  a 
very  powerful  and  popular  preacher,  while  preaching 
for  Dr.  Brinsmade  during  his  absence  in  Europe, 
fairly  captivated  the  people  by  his  eloquence.  Many  of 
the  sermons  he  then  preached  are  recalled  to-day  with 
pleasure  and  profit.  But  in  the  midst  ol  his  great 
popularity,  he  had  the  misfortune,  in  a  Thanksgiving- 
Sermon,  to  assail  the  Whig  party  and  to  declare  in 
favor  of  Democracy.  Many  arose  and  left  the  service, 
and  Dr.  Prime  never  occupied  the  pulpit  again,  so 
greatly  had  he  offended  the  people. 

The  pastoral  relation  between  Dr.  Brinsmade  and 
this  church  was  dissolved  October  9th,  1853. 

After  leaving  Newark  he  served  the  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Beloit,  Wisconsin,  as  pastor,  lor  seven 


SHORT   SKETCHES    OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  55 

years,  and  filled  a  Professorial  position  in  the  College 
of  the  same  city  for  about  four  years. 

In  1864,  eleven  years  after  leaving  Newark,  he 
was  invited  by  one  of  the  wealthy  and  influential  elders 
in  this  church,  to  return  to  this  city  and  take  charge  of 
a  new  enterprise.  He  did  so,  and  subsequently  organ- 
ized what  is  now  known  as  the  Wyckliffe  Presbyterian 
church.  Twenty  of  the  members  of  this  congregation 
followed  their  beloved  former  pastor  to  his  new  field 
of  labor. 

Dr.  Brinsmade  "  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  "  in  this  city 
which  was  so  dear  to  his  heart,  January  18th,  1879,  m 
the  82d  year  of  his  age.  But  few  men  were  ever  more 
beloved  in  life,  or  sincerely  mourned  in  death,  than 
this  loving  and  faithful  servant  of  Jesus  Christ;  the 
memory  of  him  is  fresh,  and  his  influence  still  felt  in 
this  community. 

The  fifth  pastor  of  this  church  was  the  Rev.  Elijah 
R.  Craven,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  who  was  called  October 
2d,  1854.  He  was  then  pastor  of  the  Second  Re- 
formed church  of  Somerville,  New  Jersey.  He 
was  inducted  into  the  pastoral  office  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Passaic,  under  whose  jurisdiction  the  church 
was  at  that  time,  October  30th,  1854. 

During  Dr.  Craven's  pastorate  great  changes 
took  place.  Protestant  churches  greatly  multiplied 
in  this  general  neighborhood;  there  was  an  appre- 
ciable falling  off  in  Presbyterian  population  within 
the  territory  from  which  the  church  was  expected 
to  receive  its  membership;  Wyckliffe  and  Calvary 
church,   the   latter  taking  twenty-one   members   from 


56  SHORT  SKETCHES   OF  FORMER    PASTORS. 

this  church,  were  organized.  All  of  these  things 
made  the  work  difficult  and  greatly  retarded  progress. 
While  Dr.  Craven  was  here  the  edifice  was  remodeled 
and  the  Chapel  with  its  Lecture  room,  Sabbath  school 
rooms,  parlor  and  study  was  built,  at  an  expenditure 
of  over  $73,000. 

Dr.  Craven  was  appointed  Chairman  of  the  General 
Assembly's  Committee  to  Revise  the  Book  of  Disci- 
pline, a  work  of  great  importance,  which  required 
years  of  labor  to  perform;  that  revised  book  is  now 
the  law  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1885  he  was 
elected  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  in  session 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  He  was  one  of  the  contributors  to 
the  Anglo-American  Edition  of  Lange's  Commentary. 
He  is  authority  on  Presbyterian  law,  and  Parlia- 
mentary Rules  and  Usages.  He  has  long  filled  the 
position  of  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
Princeton  University. 

I  would  say  with  reference  to  Dr.  Craven,  what  he 
said  in  his  semi-centennial  sermon  with  reference  to  Dr. 
Dickinson :  "  The  time  has  not  arrived,  and  may  it  be 
long  distant,  when  it  would  be  proper  to  present  to 
the  public  a  portraiture  of  the  life  and  character  of 
Dr.  Craven,  as  he  is  still  living." 

The  pastoral  relation  between  Dr.  Craven  and  this 
Church  was  dissolved  June  27th,  1887,  having  lasted 
almost  a  generation.  He  resigned  to  accept  the  Sec- 
retaryship of  the  Board  of  Publication  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  which  position  he  still  fills. 

During  his  pastorate  Dr.  Craven  received  into  the 
membership  of  the  Church,  eight  hundred  and  thirty- 


SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS.  57 

two  persons.  His  ministry  here  was  remarkably  able 
and  successful.  He  built  well  and  strongly  the  walls 
of  Zion,  and  holds  a  warm  place  in  the  affections  of 
the  people  whom  he  served  so  long  and  so  faithfully. 

My  predecessors  in  the  pastoral  office  here  were 
all  able  and  faithful  ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
"holding  fast  the  form  of  sound  words;"  so  that  while 
other  churches  have  drifted  on  a  sea  of  doubt  into  star- 
less darkness,  this  church  has  gone  grandly  forward, 
guided  by  the  star  of  Truth,  towards  her  destined  haven. 

With  reference  to  myself  I  have  but  little  to  say. 
You  unanimously  called  me  in  January,  1888,  from 
the  Grand  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  to  become  the  sixth  pastor  of  this  Church,  and 
1  was  installed  April  26th,  1888. 

I  have  endeavored  to  preach  to  you  the  Gospel  in 
its  simplicity ;  my  sole  aim  has  been  to  win  souls  for 
Christ,  and  to  lead  Christians  into  a  more  spiritual  life, 
and  a  deeper  experience  of  grace. 

In  1889  the  William  Street  Mission  was  opened, 
and  has  continued  in  successful  operation  ever  since. 
In  addition  to  the  Evangelistic  services  on  Friday 
evening,  a  Sabbath  School  of  over  fifty  scholars  is  held 
every  Sabbath  afternoon,  and  a  Kindergarten  attended 
by  twenty  children  meets  every  weekday  except 
Saturday.  The  Trustees  have  enlarged  the  Hall  and 
fitted  it  up  at  considerable  expense,  so  that  it  is  in 
every  way  suited  to  the  work.  This  Mission  has  been 
a  fountain  of  living  water  to  many ;  souls  have  been 
saved,  and  God's  people  edified  through  its  services. 

That  God  has  looked  with  favor  upon  my  endeav- 


58  SHORT   SKETCHES   OF   FORMER    PASTORS. 

ors  in  His  name,  and  in  dependence  on  His  Spirit,  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  during  my  eleven  years  of  service 
here  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  persons  have  been 
enrolled  as  members  of  the  Church,  and  not  a  single 
communion  has  passed  without  additions  on  profes- 
sion of  faith. 

Without  counting  those  received  during  the  pastor- 
ate of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Russell,  under  whom  the  Church 
was  organized,  two  hundred  and  forty -one  persons  con- 
stituting the  original  Church,  the  average  annual  ad- 
ditions have  been  as  follows :  during  Dr.  Dickinson's 
pastorate,  38;  during  Dr.  Treat's,  31;  during  Dr. 
Brinsmade's,  38;  during  Dr.  Craven's,  25;  during  my 
own,  42.  The  whole  number  received  into  the  Church 
since  its  organization  is  two  thousand  five  hundred 
and  eighty-three. 

Brethren,  I  am  not  here  to  speak  of  the  past  of  my 
ministry  among  you;  but  1  would  ask  you  to  pray  that 
my  future  ministry  here  may  indeed  be  redolent  with 
the  grace  of  God,  fruitful  in  souls  led  to  Christ,  and 
noted  for  the  edification  of  saints.  That  these  ends 
may  be  attained  I  beseech  you,  in  the  name  of  my 
Master  and  yours,  to  give  me  your  hearty  co-opera- 
tion "in  every  good  word  and  work,"  knowing  that 
soon  "the  night  cometh  in  which  no  man  can  work.'' 
Let  us  laoor  on  a  little  longer  for  our  dear  Lord,  and 
for  perishing  souls,  and  after  a  while  we  shall  rest  in 
that  land  where  we  shall  look  into  the  faces  of  the  men 
of  God  we  have  been  talking  about  to-night,  and  those 
sainted  ones  who  held  up  their  hands,  with  their 
prayers  and  sympathy  and  co-operation. 


APPENDIX. 


Seventy-Fifth  Anniversary. 

An  Account  of  the  Observance  of  the  Seventy- 
Fifth  Aniversary  of  the  Organization  of 
the  Third  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Newark,   New  Jersey. 

by  rev.  a.  nelson  hollifield,  d.d. 


The  various  exercises  connected  with  the  observ- 
ance of  the  seventy -fifth  anniversary  of  the  organization 
of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  were  worthy  of 
the  important  occasion,  reflected  credit  upon  those 
in  charge  of  them,  and  called  forth  great  enthusiasm. 
On  Sabbath  morning,  June  4th,  the  Pastor,  Dr.  Holli- 
field,  read  a  sermon  preached  by  the  Rev.  Baxter 
Dickinson,  D.  D.,  the  second  Pastor  of  the  Church,  and 
in  the  evening  he  gave  sketches  of  the  former  pastors. 

The  following  Tuesday  evening  a  Reminiscence 
Meeting  was  held,  on  which  occasion  William  Rankin, 
LL.D.,  a  former  Elder  of  the  Church  ;  Horace  Ailing, 
the  Senior  Elder  of  the  Church ;  George  A.  Bruen,  for 
many  years  Organist  of  the  Church  ;  Clinton  B.  Price, 
J.  Henry  Huntington,  Sr.,  and  J.  H.  Huntington,  Jr., 
gave  interesting  reminiscences. 

On  the  following  Thursday  evening,  June  8th, 
the  date  of  the  organization  of  the  Church,  a 
Reception  was  given,  which  was  attended  by  a  large 
number  of  the  former  and  present  members  of  the 
Church.  After  refreshments  had  been  served,  brief 
addresses  of  congratulation  were  made  by  the  Rev.  Drs. 
Frazer,  Hopwood  and  Haley.  Cabinet  sized  crayon  por- 
traits of  Drs.  Dickinson,  Treat,  Brinsmade  and  Craven, 


62 

former  pastors  of  the  Church,  together  with  one  of 
similar  size  of  Miss  A.  Adelaide  Brown,  the  Missionary 
in  India  of  the  Women's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Church,  and  a  photograph  of  Robert  B.  Camp- 
field,  one  of  the  early  Elders  and  Trustees  of  the 
Church,  adorned  the  walls  of  the  parlor. 

On  Sabbath  morning,  June  nth,  Dr.  Hollifield 
delivered  the  historical  sermon  to  a  large  congregation. 
The  Church  was  tastefully  and  beautifully  decorated 
with  flags,  incandescent  designs,  palms,  potted  plants 
and  cut  flowers. 

In  the  evening  a  large  congregation  assembled  to 
witness  the  anniversary  exercises  by  the  Sabbath 
Schools,  which  were  most  interesting ;  they  were  par- 
ticipated in  by  the  Parish,  William  Street  and  Chinese 
Schools.  A  pleasing  feature  of  the  occasion  was  the 
reception  into  the  membership  of  the  Church  on  profes- 
sion of  their  faith  of  eight  members  of  the  Parish  School. 

The  following  Tuesday  evening  papers  were  read 
by  Miss  Theresa  T.  Burnett,  Mr.  William  F.  Cone 
and  Mr.  J.  M.  Cobb,  and  reminiscences  were  given  by 
Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Morris,  a  lineal  descendant  of  one  of 
the  settlers  of  Newark. 

It  is  greatly  regretted  that  the  interesting  remini- 
scences given  by  Mr.  George  A.  Bruen,  Mr.  J.  Henry 
Huntington,  Sr.,  Mr.  J.  H.  Huntington,  Jr.,  Mr.  Clinton 
B.  Price  and  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Morris  were  not  written, 
that  they  might  have  been  preserved  in  this  permanent 
form. 

The  absence  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Craven,  the  only  sur- 
viving former  Pastor  of  the  Church,  from  the  anniver- 
sary exercises,  was  greatly  regretted;  he  was  frequently 
and  urgently  invited  to  be  present  and  preach  a  sermon 
on  the  occasion,  but  was  unable  to  do  so. 

The  press  of  Newark  for  over  a  week  devoted 
much  space  to  the  event,  giving  very  full  reports  of  the 
sermons  and  printing  pictures  of  the  pastors.  Below 
is  given  a  few  extracts  from  "  The  Advertiser"  and 
"  The  News"  : 

"  The  celebration  of  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary 


63 

of  its  organization  was  continued  yesterday  by  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church,  a  commemoratory  sermon 
being  delivered  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Nelson 
Hollifield.  The  Church  was  elaborately  decorated  with 
flags  and  bunting,  and  standing  out  from  the  organ 
were  the  figures  "  1824 — 1899."  The  sermon  was  an 
historical  one,  "  The  Days  of  Old  ;  or,  The  Puritans 
and  Their  Descendants."  In  his  introductory  remarks 
Dr.  Hollifield  said  he  would  give  a  sample  of  the  old 
Puritan  sermon,  and  the  sample  was  an  hour  and  twenty 
minutes  long. 

"  Dr.  Hollifield  spoke  most  sympathetically  of  the 
deceased  members  of  the  congregation.  In  his  perora- 
tion he  became  eloquent." — The  Advertiser. 

"  The  observance  of  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary 
of  the  founding  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  was 
concluded  yesterday,  when,  at  the  morning  service,  the 
pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Nelson  Hollifield,  delivered  an  his- 
torical discourse. 

"  There  was  also  a  special  musical  programme, 
consisting  of  vocal  selections  by  the  quartette  choir 
and  soloists.  The  church,  which  was  crowded  to  the 
doors,  was  profusely  decorated.  Suspended  in  front 
of  the  organ  pipes  were  the  emblematic  figures, 
"  1824  — 1899,''  incandescently  illuminated.  Palms  and 
potted  flowers  were  conspicuously  arranged,  and  flags 
and  bunting  added  to  the  ornamentation." — The  News. 

"The  Sabbath  School  anniversary  exercises,  held  in 
the  evening,  were  pleasingly  arranged.  The  Church 
was  crowded,  and  the  decorations,  which  were  arranged 
by  Clarence  W.  Ailing,  were  as  fine  as  any  ever  seen  in 
Newark.  They  consisted  of  flags,  flowers  and  electri- 
cal effects.  Eight  of  the  scholars  were  received  by  the 
pastor  and  the  session  into  Church  membership.  Two 
infants  were  baptized.  Bibles  and  testaments  were 
presented  by  the  pastor  as  rewards  for  memorizing  the 
shorter  catechism  and  commandments,  and  diplomas 
were  given  to  graduates  from  the  primary  and  inter- 
mediate departments. 

"  The  William  Street  Branch  of  the  school  and  the 


64 

Chinese  scholars  participated  in  the  programme  by 
repeating  the  Twenty-third  Psalm  and  Apostle's  Creed. 
A  prominent  incident  of  the  evening  was  an  exercise 
by  a  score  of  the  younger  children.  As  each  scholar 
stepped  to  the  front  and  recited  an  appropriate  Scrip- 
ture verse,  the  initial  letter  was  flashed  out  in  electric 
lights  until  the  words  "  Seventy-five  Years  of  Progress 
by  Faith  in  Christ  "  blazed  across  the  front  of  the  organ, 
producing  a  dazzlingly  beautiful  effect.'' — The  News. 

"The  Sunday  School  of  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church  was  seventy-five  years  old  and  the  anniversary 
exercises  were  held  in  the  evening.  The  church  was 
crowded  to  overflowing.  The  decorations  consisted 
of  flags  and  flowers,  tastefully  combined. 

"Interest  reached  its  height  when  eight  of  the  pu- 
pils were  received  by  the  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Nelson 
Hollifield,  and  session  into  church  membership,  Two 
infants  were  also  baptized. 

"Bibles  and  testaments  were  presented  by  the 
pastor  to  the  pupils  who  had  memorized  the  snorter 
catechism  and  commandments,  and  diplomas  were 
given  to  graduates  from  the  primary  and  intermediate 
departments. 

"The  William  street  branch  of  the  school  and  the 
Chinese  pupils  participated  in  the  programme  by  re- 
peating the  twenty-third  Psalm  and  Apostles'  Creed. 

"An  incident  of  the  evening  was  an  exercise  by  a 
score  of  the  younger  children.  As  each  child  stepped 
to  the  front  and  recited  an  appropriate  Scriptural 
verse,  the  initial  letter  was  flashed  out  in  electric  lights 
until  the  words  "Seventy-five  years  of 'progress  by 
faith  in  Christ"  blazed  across  the  front  of  the  organ. 

At  the  close  of  the  exercises  the  venerable  Wil- 
liam Rankin  was  called  to  the  platform  and  presented 
to  the  school  as  its  Superintendent  of  forty-five  years 
ago.'' — The  Advertiser. 

All  of  the  expenses  of  the  anniversary  were  cheer- 
fully defrayed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

To  Clarence  W.  Ailing,  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
as  Chairman  of   the   Committee  on   Decorations,  and 


65 

M.  J.  Price,  of  the  Session,  as  Chairman  of  the  Re- 
ception Committee,  is  due,  in  a  very  large  measure, 
the  credit  for  the  marked  success  achieved  in  their 
respective  departments.  J.  Henry  Huntington,  Jr., 
was  in  charge  of  the  music,  which  was  rendered  with 
artistic  skill,  and  aided  greatly  in  making  all  of  the 
services  a  success. 

The  above  is  simply  a  rough  outline  of  a  memora- 
ble anniversary,  whose  inspiring  exercises  and  scenes 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  whose  good  fortune  it 
was  to  be  present. 


Reminiscences 

BY  MR.  HORACE  ALLING. 


I  have  been  requested  by  our  pastor  to  give  a  few 
reminiscences,  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  do  in  as  brief 
a  manner  as  possible. 

My  entire  life  has  been  spent  in  this  Church.  It 
is  the  only  Church  home  I  have  ever  known.  The 
same  is  true  of  my  wife,  whose  mother  was  one  of  the 
original  members,  coming  from  the  First  Church  to 
organize  it. 

It  has  been  my  pleasure  to  know  personally  every 
one  of  its  pastors,  and  have  witnessed  all  the  changes 
that  have  taken  place  during  a  large  portion  of  the 
seventy-five  years  of  its  history. 

It  is  difficult  for  me  to  realize  that  I  am  now  the 
Senior  Elder  in  this  Church,  with  which  my  earliest 
recollections  are  associated. 

An  incident  occurred  when  I  was  a  child  of  perhaps 
six  years,  which  I  vividly  recall.  On  a  Sabbath  morn- 
ing, the  Rev.   Mr.  Russell,  our  first  pastor,  had  invi- 


66 

ted  a  representative  of  one  ol  tne  Mission  Boards  to 
preach,  and,  as  1,  child  like,  sitting  with  my  mother  in 
the  pew,  was  very  uneasy,  getting  off  the  seat,  then 
down  on  the  floor,  my  good  mother  whispered  to  me, 
that  if  I  did  not  keep  quiet,  she  would  tell  Mr.  Russell. 
Directly  after  this  warning,  Mr.  Russell  lelt  the  pulpit 
and  walked  down  the  aisle  to  our  pew,  and  took  a  seat. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  I  crept  very  close  to  my 
mother,  and  was  as  quiet  as  a  church  mouse  during  the 
rest  of  the  service. 

In  my  seventeenth  year  I  united  with  this  Church, 
under  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Selah  B.  Treat.  I  also 
became  a  member  of  a  large  Bible  class  taught  by 
Elder  Pinneo,  which  met  in  the  double  pews  of  the 
Church.  Mr.  Pinneo  subsequently  left  this  Church  to 
organize  the  High  Street  Church  ;  he  was  noted  for 
his  great  liberality,  and  noble  Christian  character.  He 
lived  to  celebrate  his  eightieth  year;  he  was  a  valued 
personal  friend  of  mine. 

About  the  time  I  united  with  the  Church,  a  morn- 
ing prayer  meeting  was  held  at  9  o'clock  each  Sabbath 
in  the  Church,  and  through  summer's  heat  and  winter's 
cold,  a  few  members  were  always  present.  This  con- 
tinued for  several  years,  led  by  the  elder  brethren  of 
the  Church,  of  whom  I  recall  Father  Hedden  and  El- 
ders Campfield,  Richards  and  Crowell ;  this  meeting 
was  held  in  one  of  the  ante-rooms  in  the  basement  of 
the  Church. 

In  1834  a  Missionary  Society  was  organized  which 
continued  in  existence  for  a  long  period.  Regular 
monthly  meetings  were  held  and  anniversaries  cele- 
brated, and  also  yearly  collections  for  the  society  made. 
It  was  called  "  The  Youths'  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church."  Its  object  was  the  sup- 
port of  a  foreign  missionary.  All  of  the  young  people 
of  the  Church  and  Sunday  School  were  enrolled  as 
members.  Some  of  the  presiding  officers  were  Lewis 
C.  Grover,  Dr.  Mortimer  Brown,  John  R.  Weeks, 
Isaac  A.  Ailing  and  Charles  S.  Haines. 

A  morning  daily  prayer  meeting  was  also  held  for 


67 

several  weeks  at  6  o'clock  during  the  revival  in  1832, 
which  service  I  often  attended. 

i\fter  many  years  of  most  acceptable  service,  Elder 
Frederick  S.  Thomas  retired  from  the  Superintendency 
of  the  Sabbath  School,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Irenasus 
Prime,  editor  of  the  New  York  Observer,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  congregation,  was  elected  to  the  posi- 
tion. Dr.  Prime  was  as  noted  for  his  liberality  as  for 
his  learning.  The  School  then  met  in  the  basement  of 
the  Church,  and  soon  after  his  election  the  necessity  of 
enlarged  quarters  was  apparent,  and  in  the  year  1845 
the  Trustees,  with  the  sanction  of  the  congregation, 
erected  the  building  directly  in  the  rear  of  our  present 
structure.  The  school  rapidly  increased  in  numbers, 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  being  enrolled.  Dr. 
Prime  officiated  as  Superintendent  for  about  ten  years. 
He  resigned,  having  planned  to  make  his  home  in  New 
York,  amidst  the  sincere  regrets  of  the  Sabbath  School 
and  Church. 

In  the  Summer  of  1862,  some  four  or  five  teachers 
of  the  Sabbath  School,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Dorrance, 
Dawson,  Doty  and  myself,  feeling  the  importance  of 
establishing  a  Mission  School,  visited  from  house  to 
house  in  the  vicinity  of  our  Church,  taking  in  William, 
Halsey  and  Washington  streets.  We  found  a  large 
number  of  children  who  were  very  poor,  and  their  pa- 
rents were  glad  to  have  their  children  attend  school 
and  receive  religious  instruction.  A  mission  school 
was  soon  organized.  On  the  first  Sabbath  there  were 
about  twenty-six  scholars,  the  following  Sabbath  forty- 
two  were  present,  and  before  the  winter  set  in  there 
were  gathered  into  the  school  some  one  hundred  and 
fifty  scholars,  and  many  of  the  teachers  of  the  Church 
School  took  charge  of  the  classes.  E.  F.  Dorrance  was 
Superintendent  and  I  was  Assistant  Superintendent  of 
the  school  until  it  became  part  of  the  main  school. 

This  Mission  School  was  held  at  half-past  1  o'clock, 
so  that  the  teachers  and  others  could  attend  the  after- 
noon preaching  service  in  the  Church,  which  was  then 
held  at  half -past   2  o'clock.     At  4  o'clock  the  regular 


68 

Church  Sabbath  School  convened.  Attendance  on 
these  services  and  the  morning-  service  made  a  pretty 
full  day,  and  yet  we  found  great  joy  in  it. 

A  committee  of  the  Mission  School  teachers  re- 
solved themselves  into  a  society  to  look  after  the  needs 
of  the  poor  children.  We  bought  cloth  by  the  bale 
and  shoes  by  the  case,  and  the  garments  were  made 
and  fitted  by  a  number  of  the  lady  teachers  in  the  Sun- 
day School  room.  Certain  days  were  appointed  from 
week  to  week  for  their  meetings,  so  that  their  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual  needs  were  supplied.  It  meant 
work  and  self-denial,  but  a  blessing  was  in  it. 

About  ten  years  after  its  organization  the  Mission 
School  was  merged  in  the  Parish  School. 

As  no  pictures  of  the  original  Church  edifice  are 
known  to  exist,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  describe  it. 
Originally  an  uncovered  stone  platform,  about  fifteen 
feet  wide,  elevated  about  five  feet  above  the  ground, 
extended  across  the  entire  front  of  the  building,  and 
was  reached  by  seven  steps,  which  occupied  a  space  in 
front  of  about  ten  feet ;  it  was  also  reached  by  steps 
from  either  side.  The  platform  was  surrounded  by  an 
iron  railing. 

About  1855  this  platform  was  replaced  by  a  new 
one  seven  feet  wide,  which  extended  the  whole  length 
of  the  Church  and  was  without  a  railing ;  it  was 
reached  by  steps  extending  its  whole  length. 

This  remained  until  1870  when  it  was  removed, 
and  the  front  of  the  church  received  its  present  form. 

The  edifice  was  originally  surmounted  by  a  tower, 
the  base  of  which  was  dome-shaped  ;  it  was  of  symmet- 
rical proportions  and  of  considerable  architectural 
beauty.  There  was  a  spacious  basement,  which  was 
used  for  Sabbath  School,  and  Prayer  meeting  purposes. 

The  woodwork  of  the  interior  was  painted  white 
and  the  windows  were  supplied  with  green  blinds. 
Originally  the  gallery  extended  around  three  sides  of 
the  audience  room;  the  choir  occupying  the  entire 
section  over  the  main  entrance.  The  pulpit  was  a 
striking  feature  of  the  interior  of   the  Church,  it  being 


69 

elevated  about  eleven  feet  above  the  main  floor ;  the 
stairs  leading  to  it  wound  in  a  semi-circular  form, 
and  the  space  back  of  it  was  handsomely  draped 
with  rich  crimson  silk  damask,  held  in  place  by  heavy 
silk  cord  and  tassels. 

At  first  we  had  a  large  and  efficient  chorus  choir. 
The  organ  was  introduced  in  1834.  The  Sabbath 
Schools  held  their  anniversaries  in  May,  when  the 
schools  occupied  the  galleries,  and  the  congregation 
the  body  of  the  Church. 

Formerly  there  were  four  large  square  pews  in 
the  Church  at  the  head  of  the  side  aisles,  which  were 
occupied  every  Sabbath  by  large  and  prominent  fami- 
lies. The  first  parsonage  owned  by  the  Church  was 
located  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Broad  and  Walnut 
streets.  Subsequently  a  new  parsonage  was  built 
south  of  the  old  one,  and  now  occupied  by  Dr.  J.  C. 
Young;  this  was  subsequently  sold  and  the  present 
property,  No.  30  Walnut  street,  purchased  at  a  cost  of 
$17*000. 

In  1889  the  Church  was  handsomely  frescoed  and 
recarpeted  and  electric  lights  introduced. 

If  time  permitted  I  would  refer  to  the  revivals  that 
have  been  enjoyed  in  our  Church,  several  of  which  were 
remarkable  for  their  thoroughness  and  widespread 
and  lasting  influence.  In  them  the  great  doctrines  of 
the  gospel  were  preached  in  their  purity,  the  Holy 
Spirit  honored  the  truth,  and  as  a  result  sinners  had  a 
conviction  of  sin  and  a  satisfying  faith  in  Jesus  as  their 
Saviour  that  are  rare  to-day. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  without  a  single  exception 
our  pastors  have  been  faithful  preachers  of  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  taking  this  retrospect,  I  can  but  recall  the  many 
good  men  and  women  with  whom  I  have  here  wor- 
shipped, and  their  name  is  legion,  who  have  "  fallen 
asleep  in  Jesus,"  and  my  prayer  is  that  all  who  may 
succeed  them  may  be  as  faithful  to  their  covenant  vows, 
and  as  loyal  to  the  interests  of  this  beloved  Church,  as 
they  were.     Then  it  "  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in  old 


70 

age ;  it  shall  be  fat  and  flourishing,  to  shew  that  the 
Lord  is  upright.'' 

That  God  may  bless  it  in  the  future  as  in  the  past, 
and  even  more  abundantly,  is  my  earnest  prayer. 


Reminiscences 

BY  WILLIAM  RANKIN,  LL.D. 


This  Church  was  organized  June  8th,  1824.  On  the 
fifth  of  the  following  month  the  corner  stone  of  its  house 
of  worship  was  laid,  and  I  am  invited  to  narrate  some 
reminiscences  of  that  early  period.  I  was  then  a  lad  of 
thirteen  years  growth.  My  home  was  on  Broad  street 
fronting  the  Military  Park,  which  was  my  play  ground 
most  of  the  year,  and  in  winter  my  skating  pond.  My 
parents  were  members  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  with  which  they  united  under  its  first  pastor, 
Rev.  Hooper  Cumming. 

The  town  had  a  population  of  between  seven  and 
eight  thousand.  Besides  the  First  and  Second  Presby- 
terian Churches  and  Trinity,  there  was  a  frame  Metho- 
dist Church  on  Halsey  street,  and  a  Baptist  church  on 
the  corner  of  Academy  and  Halsey  streets,  now  a  sash 
and  blind  factory.  There  was  also  the  foundation  walls 
of  the  First  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  Mulberry  street, 
whose  consecration  I  witnessed. 

Rev.  Dr.  Richards,  pastor  of  the  'First  Presbyter- 
ian Church,  resigned  his  charge  in  the  Fall  of  1823. 
Two  candidates  for  the  vacant  pulpit  soon  appeared; 
William  T.  Hamilton  and  Joshua  T.  Russell,  who  di- 
vided the  affections  of  the  congregation.  The  conten- 
tion was  sharp,  and  at  one  of  the  meetings  to  discuss 
their    respective   merits   when   I   was   present,   Elder 


7i 

Hornblower,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  State, 
said  he  was  willing  to  get  on  his  knees  before  the  peo- 
ple and  beg  their  votes  for  his  favorite  candidate.  His 
appeal,  and  that  of  those  who  sided  with  him  resulted 
in  the  choice  of  Mr.  Hamilton.  The  minority  unwil- 
ling to  acquiesce,  at  once  formed  a  new  organization 
called  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  of  Newark,  and 
invited  their  favorite  candidate,  Rev.  Joshua  T.  Rus- 
sell to  become  its  first  pastor. 

The  division  of  the  mother  church  then  greatly 
needed,  thus  was  accomplished  on  the  principle  of  per- 
sonal elective  affinity.  The  victors  in  the  parish  strug- 
gle were  generous  conquerors.  They  set  off  to  their 
seceding  brethern  a  portion  of  their  endowment  lands 
and  until  the  new  Church  afforded  accommodations, 
the  two  pastors  shared  in  the  Sabbath  services  of  the 
First  church. 

Of  these  two  men,  Mr.  Hamilton  had  superior 
mental  training,  and  was  an  eloquent  and  instructive 
preacher.  Mr.  Russell,  though  several  years  his  senior 
in  age,  was  much  inferior  in  scholarship,  but  more  im- 
pressive and  magnetic  in  the  lecture  room,  and  his 
earliest  pulpit  discourses  were  his  best. 

Besides  a  prayer  meeting  held  in  the  cabinet  ware- 
room  of  Elder  McDougall,  on  Broad  street.  Mr.  Rus- 
sell had  a  weekly  service  in  the  white  school  house  then 
standing  on  what  is  now  Lincoln  Park,  both  of  which  I 
attended  with  my  father,  whose  growing  interest  in 
Mr.  Russell  led  him  to  remove  his  connection  with  the 
Second  Church  and  identify  himself  and  family  with 
this  new  enterprise.  He  subscribed  $500  toward  this 
building,  and  when  it  was  finished  was  the  owner  of 
two  adjoining  pews  on  the  middle  aisle,  one  of  them 
now  occupied  by  his  grandson.  When  no  suitable 
house  for  the  pastor  could  be  rented  he  bought  one  ex- 
pressly for  his  use,  and  became  his  accommodating 
landlord.  As  yon  walls  were  going  up  it  was  my  pas- 
time at  intervals  of  school  hours  to  watch  their  progress 
and  lend  a  boy's  hand  to  the  windlass  in  hoisting  the 
timbers. 


72 

When  the  basement  room  was  finished  and  seated, 
public  religious  services  were  held  in  it,  including 
preaching  on  the  Sabbath.  A  Sunday  School  was  or- 
ganized with  Elder  Ellison  Conger  Superintendent. 
Moses  Lyon  was  my  teacher,  and  his  lessons  were  the 
proof  texts  of  the  shorter  Catechism  to  be  memorized 
and  recited. 

The  dedication  of  the  completed  building  took 
place  February  25th,  1825,  and  my  school  teacher  gave 
me  a  holiday  to  attend  the  services.  I  remember  how 
Solomon's  Temple  and  his  prayer  at  its  dedication 
entered  largely  into  the  pastor's  elaborate  sermon  on 
the  occasion.  Simultaneously  with  this  an  invisible 
temple  was  rising,  whose  master  builder  was  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Weekly  conference  meetings  were  held  at  the 
parsonage,  and  after  passing  from  one  to  another  in 
silent  personal  interviews  with  inquirers,  the  pastor 
would  break  the  stillness  of  the  room  with  his  sonorous 
voice  singing  lines  which  I  have  failed  to  find  in  cur- 
rent Hymnals;  "  Oh,  Jesus,  My  Saviour  to  Thee  I  sub- 
mit; with  joy  and  thanksgiving  fall  down  at  Thy  feet;" 

At  this  time  also  a  Young  People's  Missionary  So- 
ciety was  formed,  of  which  I  was  a  director,  and  money 
was  raised  to  educate  a  heathen  boy  to  bear  the  name  of 
Joshua  T.  Russell. 

Four  and  a  half  years  after  the  pastor's  dedicatory 
service,  I  heard  his  farewell  sermon  and  saw  tears  flow 
from  eyes  in  the  seat  before  mie.  "Hinder  me  not," 
were  the  preacher's  pathetic  words — "  I  must  be  gone 
to  the  field  where  the  Lord  has  called  me.'' 

That  field  was  an  agency  under  the  Assembly's 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  My  father  before  this 
had  left  the  Church  and  taken  his  certificate  to  the  First 
Church.  This  was  during  my  absence  at  college,  and 
I  never  heard  from  him  the  reason  of  his  so  doing.  He 
was  a  very  busy  man  during  the  working  days  of  the 
week,  and  greatly  enjoyed  not  only  the  rest  of  the  Sab- 
bath, but  the  preaching  of  the  word.  The  shorter 
Catechism  was  the  mould  into  which  his  religious  sym- 


73 

pathies  were  cast,  the  whole  of  which  his  children 
recited  to  him  every  Sabbath  evening,  and  I  have 
thought  that  its  cardinal  doctrines  were  not  made  suf- 
ficiently prominent  in  the  sermons  he  heard. 

Mr.  Russell,  though  apparently  a  strong  and  vig- 
orous man,  complained  much  of  poor  health,  and  I  have 
heard  him  publicly  assign  this  as  a  reason  for  his  want 
of  pulpit  preparation,  and  he  often  called  to  his  assist- 
ance unwelcome  substitutes.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  in  those  days  ministers  took  no  vaca- 
tions. There  were  no  summer  resorts,  and  if  there 
were,  no  facilities  of  reaching  them  such  as  they  now 
have.  Paul's  remedy  for  the  oft  infirmities  of  his  son 
Timothy  was  not  infrequently  resorted  to. 

On  one  of  my  college  vacations  at  home,  I  attended 
Sabbath  services  here,  and  occupied  my  former  (then 
vacated)  pew.  A  celebrated  temperance  lecturer,  Rev. 
Dr.  Hewitt,  of  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and  Mr.  Russell  were 
in  the  pulpit,  and  while  the  former  was  depicting  in 
his  sermon  the  evil  effects  of  the  drink  habit  which  in 
those  days  marred  so  many  of  our  Communion  rolls,  I 
was  startled  when  he  turned  his  back  to  the  audience 
and  pointed  his  extended  arm  at  the  pastor  and  asked 
in  ringing  words:  "  How  can  we  expect  reformation 
of  the  people  unless  their  minister  sets  the  example  ?  " 

About  twenty  years  after  this  I  was  a  fellow  pas- 
senger on  an  ocean  steamer  with  Dr.  Hewitt,  and  in 
conversation  with  him  referred  to  this  scene  in  New- 
ark. He  well  remembered  it,  and  said,  "  I  knew  all 
about  Russell,  I  spent  that  Sunday  with  him,  and  at 
the  dinner  table  there  was  silence  tor  a  long  time  which 
he  finally  broke  saying:  '  Brother  Hewitt,  that  was  an 
excellent  sermon  of  yours  this  morning.  There  is  an 
old  deacon  in  my  church  whom  it  squarely  hit.' '' 

Mr.  Russell  did  not  long  retain  his  agency.  In 
1834  I  met  him  in  Louisville,  Ky.  He  was  supplying  a 
small  Church  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city  and  then 
went  to  a  place  in  Mississippi  where  he  joined  the  Bap- 
tist Communion. 

After  leaving  college  1  returned  to  this  church  and 


74 

for  a  year  and  a  half  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Baxter 
Dickinson,  of  which  Elder  Horace  Ailing  can  speak 
more  intelligently  than  I.  In  a  great  revival  in  1832, 
which  shook  the  whole  town,  he  would  not  permit  new 
measures,  as  they  were  called,  to  be  introduced  into 
this  Church,  though  generally  adopted  elsewhere,  and 
conservative  doctrinal  instruction  characterized  all  his 
preaching,  a  summary  of  which  was  afterwards  em- 
bodied in  the  celebrated  Andover  Declaration,  of  which 
he  was  the  distinguished  author.  After  his  resignation 
his  hospitable  home  on  Walnut  Hill,  near  Cincinnati, 
was  a  favorite  visiting  place  when  I  was  a  resident  of 
that  city. 

Of  the  short  and  successful  pastorate  of  Dr.  Treat 
I  cannot  speak,  my  home  being  then  in  the  west. 

On  my  return  to  Newark  in  1850  I  came  back  to 
my  old  spiritual  home  and  drank  from  the  stream  that 
flowed  through  the  heart  and  life  of  Dr.  Horatio  N. 
Brinsmade,  where  also  I  received  official  honors  from 
the  Church  and  from  the  Sunday-School.  The  protract- 
ed illness  of  Mrs.  Brinsmade  and  necessity  of  her  re- 
moval to  another  climate  compelled  his  resignation  and 
some  years  later  alter  her  death  on  his  returning  here 
with  her  remains  for  burial  this  congregation  invited 
him  to  take  charge  of  one  of  their  mission  daughters 
and  organize  Wyckliffe  Church.  The  call  was  accepted 
and  there  he  again  became  my  pastor.  On  the  with- 
drawal of  Dr.  Brinsmade  from  this  pulpit  I  assisted 
in  the  removal  from  Somerville  of  a  goodly  young 
cedar  and  planting  it  here  where  it  long  grew  and 
flourished  and  became  a  stately  tree  when  providence 
removed  me  from  under  its  beneficent  shade  and  now 
has  removed  it  for  a  more  expanded  usefulness. 

1  need  not  in  this  presence  enlarge  upon  the  work 
here  of  Dr.  Craven.  His  fruitful  pastorate  which  ex- 
ceeded in  years  the  combined  pastorates  of  all  his  pre- 
decessors speaks  in  expressive  silence  his  praise.  I 
cannot  close  this  recital  without  recalling  to  mind  the 
venerable  fathers  of  the  laity  who  founded  this  church, 
and  the  consecrated   women  their   associates,  and  my 


75 

own  associates  in  the  Eldership  of  later  dates,  none  of 
whom  now  survive,  but  my  time  is  limited. 

Though  they  who  follow  me  in  this  memorial  ser- 
vice may  give  more  interesting  details  from  personal 
experience,  yet  I  doubt  if  anyone  can  furnish  a  more 
ancient  record  than  the  one  to  whose  recital  you  have 
so  patiently  listened. 

My  congratulations  on  this  joyous  occasion  are  to 
pastor  and  people  so  happily  united,  and  when  the 
passing  years  shall  bring  about  the  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  this  dear  old  church,  may  he  whom  we  all  ex- 
pect to  hear  on  the  coming  Sabbath  again  preach  its 
historical  sermon. 


History  of  Sabbath  School  from  1824  to  1899 

BY  T.  M.  COBB. 


In  1874,  on  the  occasion  of  the  semi-centennial  of 
our  church,  a  remarkably  clear  and  concise  history  of 
the  Sabbath  School  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Charles  A. 
Carter,  a  man  of  God,  who  for  many  years  was  actively 
engaged  in  the  work  of  both  Church  and  Sabbath 
School. 

Though  he  was  spared  to  a  ripe  old  age,  Mr. 
Carter  continued  with  us  as  a  faithful  teacher  almost  to 
the  end  of  his  life,  and  when,  in  the  year  1884,  he  was 
called  to  his  reward,  there  was  universal  mourning  in 
our  school. 

All  who  may  be  interested  in  the  history  of  the  first 
half-century  of  the  school,  are  commended  to  the  Semi- 
centennial Book  published  by  the  Church,  which,  in 
addition  to  Mr.  Carter's  article,  contains  much  other 
interesting  information  concerning  the  past  of  the  old 


76 

Third  Church.  In  the  preparation  of  the  present  brief 
sketch,  the  purpose  has  not  been  to  again  review  this 
previous  history,  but  merely  to  bring  the  record  up  to 
date  in  1 899 — the  Diamond  \v  edding  Year  of  our  Church 
and  Sabbath  School. 

The  Sabbath  School  Superintendent  occupies  a 
position  of  great  and  serious  responsibility,  and  the 
school  honors  the  man  to  whom  it  intrusts  the  Superin- 
tendency.  It  will  not  be  inappropriate,  therefore,  to 
call  the  roll  of  all  who  have  been  thus  honored  in  the 
Third  Church,  in  the  order  of  their  incumbency,  giving 
dates  where  possible  : 

1  st.  Ellison  Conger,  "] 

2d.  John  Chandler, 

3d.  Timothy  B.  Crowell,     \-  1824 — 1841. 

4th.  Frederick  S.  Thomas, 

5th.  Daniel  Price, 

6th.  S.  Iraenus  Prime,  1841 — 1849. 

7th.  John  R.  Davison,  1849 — 1856. 

8th.  William  Rankin,  1856 — 1864. 

9th.  Charles  Harrison,  1864 — 1866. 

10th.  William  H.  Jackson,  1866 — 1872. 

nth.  J.  Henry  Huntington,  1872 — 1889. 

1 2th.  Jeremiah  M.  Cobb,  1889 — 1899. 

13th.  J.  H.  Huntington,  Jr.  1899 — 

Nine  of  these  thirteen  men  have  finished  their 
earthly  course  and  gone  to  their  reward.  William 
Rankin,  the  eighth  on  the  roll,  is  now  an  Elder  in  the 
High  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  Though  nearly 
ninety  years  old,  he  still  exhibits  remarkable  vitality 
and  is  keenly  interested  in  all  that  concerns  the  growth 
of  Christ's  kingdom  at  home  and  abroad,  while  the 
Sabbath  School  work  is  as  dear  to  his  heart  as  it 
ever  was. 

Said  Mr.  Carter  in  1874:  "Mr.  J.  Henry  Huntington, 
our  present  efficient  guide  and  director,  is  in  his  second 
year  as  Superintendent,  and  will  be  retained  during 
good  behavior." 


77 

Said  "  good  behavior  "  proved  to  be  long-lived,  for  it 
survived  seventeen  years,  i.  e.,  from  1872  to  1889 — and 
the  only  lapse  then  discoverable  was  Mr.  Huntington's 
positive  refusal  to  continue  longer  in  the  office  for 
which  by  unanimous  agreement  he  was  so  grandly 
equipped,  and  to  which  he  for  many  years  ungrudg- 
ingly devoted  thought  and  energy.  With  great  reluc- 
tance the  school  finally  yielded  to  Mr.  Huntington's 
wishes,  and  in  May,  1889,  chose  another  for  its  Super- 
intendent, viz.,  Mr.  Jeremiah  M.  Cobb.  In  order  that 
the  school  might  continue  to  enjoy  the  official  counsel 
of  its  former  leader,  the  office  of  Advisory  Superin- 
tendent was  at  this  time  created  and  Mr.  Huntington 
was  by  acclamation  chosen  to  fill  it  for  a  life  term. 

The  school  was  then,  as  it  always  has  been,  in 
healthy  condition,  both  as  to  membership  and  spiritual 
vigor. 

Having  completed  ten  years  of  service,  Mr.  Cobb 
retired  from  the  Superintendency  in  May  of  the  present 
year,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Huntington,  Jr. 

Mr.  Huntington  is  the  organist  of  our  Church, 
and  has  for  a  long  time  been  actively  engaged  as  teacher 
and  musical  director  in  the  school,  and  as  was  said  of 
his  father  twenty-five  years  ago,  "  will  be  retained  as 
Superintendent  during  good  behavior." 

Until  recently  the  enrolled  membership  averaged 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty.  Because  of  removals 
and  for  other  good  reasons,  the  present  membership 
is  somewhat  less  than  that  of  previous  years,  but  plans 
have  been  matured  for  again  measuring  up  to  the  old 
standard,  and  a  successful  outcome  is  confidently  antici- 
pated. 

The  amount  contributed  by  the  school  during 
the  twenty-five  years,  for  missionary  causes,  cannot  be 
stated  with  exactness,  but  conservatively  speaking 
foots  up  about  ten  thousand  dollars,  which  added  to  the 
estimate  made  for  the  first  fifty  years,  makes  a  grand 
total  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  This  money  has  gone 
far  and  wide,  carrying  gospel  light  into  many  of  earth's 
dark  corners.     For  years  the  sum  of  $140.00  was  an- 


78 

nually  contributed  toward  the  support  of  a  mission 
school  in  China,  but  when,  in  the  year  1893,  Miss 
A.  Adelaide  Brown,  a  beloved  child  of  our  Church, 
enlisted  for  mission  work  in  India,  the  school  discon- 
tinued its  support  of  the  Chinese  work,  and  in  place 
thereof  assumed  the  payment  of  a  part  of  Miss  Brown's 
salary. 

It  is  beautifully  fitting  that  Miss  Brown,  who  grew 
up  in  our  midst,  and  who  as  scholar  and  teacher  had 
always  been  so  closely  identified  with  our  interests  here, 
should  represent  us  in  far  away  India,  and  we  rejoice 
that  the  ties  which  for  so  long  bound  her  to  us,  remain 
unbroken. 

Nine  years  ago  the  school  adopted  for  all  but  the 
Primary  Department,  a  new  plan  of  systematic  giving. 
Its  purpose  is  mainly  educational.  Giving  is  held  up 
as  privilege,  rather  than  mere  duty,  and  the  scholars 
are  encouraged  to  become  regular,  and  not  spasmodic 
givers. 

The  results  have  been  highly  satisfactory.  During 
the  past  six  years  every  member  of  the  school  (if  pres- 
ent) has  given  something  on  every  one  of  the  three 
hundred  Sabbaths. 

Further  than  this,  the  inevitable  effect  of  this  reg- 
ularity has  been  to  swell  the  total  of  the  contribu- 
tions over  sixty-five  per  cent. 

In  1898  a  new  graded  plan  went  into  operation. 
An  Intermediate  Department  was  organized  with  Miss 
May  Connor  as  Superintendent.  Scholars  who  pass 
a  satisfactory  examination  are  now  regularly  graduated 
to  a  higher  department,  and  each  graduate  is  pre- 
sented with  a  diploma. 

For  nineteen  years  the  Primary  Department  was 
ably  and  faithfully  conducted  by  Mrs.  J.  Henry 
Huntington.  In  1891,  at  her  earnest  request,  Mrs. 
Huntington  was  permitted  to  retire,  and  her  associate, 
Mrs.  J.  Woodbridge  Barnes,  was  elected  to  the  Super- 
intendency  of  the  department. 

Mrs.  Barnes  is  prominently  identified  with  primary 
school  interests  throughout  New  Jersey  and  neighbor- 


79 

ing  States,  and  the  success  which  has  attended  her 
work  with  us  is  a  sufficient  tribute  to  the  value  of 
her  services. 

Incomplete  records  preclude  a  statement  of  the 
exact  number  of  school  members  who,  since  1874,  have 
become  church  members,  but  it  is  within  bounds  to  say 
that  at  least  two  hundred  and  fifty  have  chosen  for 
Christ,  making  nearly  eight  hundred  during  the  entire 
existence  of  the  school. 

In  1884  a  missionary  band,  known  as  the  "  Cru- 
saders," and  made  up  largely  of  Sabbath  School 
scholars,  was  organized. 

Mrs.  J.  H.  Huntington  was  the  President  of  the 
Band   until    1898,    when  she  was   succeeded   by  Mrs 
Joseph    M.     Sayre,    who    served    one    year,    and  by 
Miss  Mary  Read,  who,  in  January  last,  entered  upon 
her  first  year  of  service. 

In  a  quiet  way  the  Crusaders  have  achieved  splen- 
did results.  The  young  have  learned  much  concerning 
mission  fields,  interest  in  mission  work  has  been  quick- 
ened, and  from  the  treasury  of  the  Band  has  flowed  a 
steady  stream  of  money  for  home  and  foreign  work. 
The  sum  total  of  the  disbursements  for  the  fifteen  years 
amounts  to  nearly  two  thousand  dollars. 

Four  years  ago  Miss  Catharine  E.  Graham  organ- 
ized, in  connection  with  the  William  Street  Mission 
work  of  the  Church,  an  Adult  Bible  Class.  Because  of 
ill  health  Miss  Graham  has  been  unable  to  continue, 
and  Mrs.  Theodore  B.  Wilcox  is  now  conducting  the 
class. 

The  work  has  been  enlarged  by  the  formation  of 
three  classes  of  children  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Anna  M. 
King,  Mrs.  Clarence  W.  Ailing  and  Miss  Augusta  L. 
Wilcox,  the  Bible  Reader  and  Visitor  of  the  Mission. 
The  total  number  enrolled  in  the  school  is  fifty-eight, 
and  there  is  abundant  promise  of  increasing  growth 
and  fruitfulness  in  this  mission  work  of  our  Sabbath 
School  vineyard. 

A  school  for  the  instruction  of  Chinese  was  organ- 
ized in  the  year  1881,  and  is  still  in  successful  operation, 


8o 

meeting  in  the  Church  parlor  every  Sabbath  afternoon. 
For  seventeen  years  Mr.  Edwin  M.  Douglas,  an  Elder 
of  our  Church,  was  Superintendent,  but  in  1898  he  re- 
tired and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Theodorus  B.  Hascall. 
The  results  of  this  work  amongst  the  heathen  whom 
God  has  sent  to  us,  have  been  highly  gratifying,  at  least 
fifteen  having  accepted  Christ.  Several  of  these  are 
consistent  members  of  the  Third  Church,  some  are 
faithfully  serving  Christ  in  other  American  cities,  while 
others  have  returned  to  their  homes  in  China,  there  to 
tell  the  "old,  old  story."  Though  the  teachers  of  the 
Chinese  School  come  from  other  Churches  and  denom- 
inations as  well  as  from  our  own,  and  though  the  school 
has  no  organic  connection  with  our  Church  Sabbath 
School,  a  special  bond  of  interest  has  always  been  rec- 
ognized as  binding  us  together. 

Mr.  Horace  Ailing,  the  present  Senior  Elder  of  our 
Church,  was  enrolled  as  a  scholar  in  our  school  as  early 
as  the  year  1830,  but,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
Mr.  William  Rankin  is  the  only  surviving  Charter 
Member.  The  workers  are  taken,  but  the  work 
goes  on. 

As  we  review  the  record  we  are  moved  to  thanks- 
giving and  praise,  for  we  find  that  at  every  step  of  the 
way  God  has  been  with  us.  In  His  goodness,  conse- 
crated men  and  women  have  ever  been  ready  to  serve 
in  this  delightful  field  of  labor,  and  the  harvest  which 
always  rewards  faithful  seed-sowing  has  been  abundant 
with  us. 

May  God's  richest  blessing  ever  abide  with  our 
dear  old  School. 


8i 


Foreign  Missionary  Work 

BY  MISS  ALETHIA  M.  CARTER. 


"  Seed  sown  by  God 
To  ripen  in  the  day  of  harvest." 

Such  was  the  inscription  found  upon  a  tablet  in  an 
old  churchyard  in  Ottensen,  near  the  venerable  city 
of  Hamburgh.  At  the  top  of  the  antique  memorial 
were  carved  two  sheaves  of  wheat,  one  leaning  on  the 
other.  It  marked  the  resting  place  of  one  whose  life 
had  been  rich  in  good  deeds. 

As  we  erect  a  memorial  stone  in  the  history  of  our 
Church,  at  this  time,  we  find  in  the  department  of  its 
work  for  Foreign  Missions,  that  all  through  the 
seventy-five  years,  there  have  been  seed  sown  for  God, 
and  by  Him,  which  are  ripening  for  the  day  of  harvest. 

Like  the  gentle  forces  in  nature,  the  influences  ex- 
erted through  the  agency  of  this  foreign  missionary 
work  have  been  quiet,  but  powerful. 

Our  Heavenly  Father  has  blessed  us  at  home  and 
in  the  distant  lands  where  our  labors  have  centred,  and 
we  believe  that  the  spirit  of  missions,  which  is  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  has  deepened  and  quickened  among  us 
as  the  years  have  progressed. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  organization  of  our  Church 
— 1824 — a  "Young  People's  Society  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions'' was  formed.  This  Society  flourished  for  about 
eight  years,  supporting  a  boy  in  India,  to  whom  the 
name  of  "  Joshua  Russell"  was  given. 

June  16th,  1834,  "The  Youths'  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church"  was  organized, 
which  took  the  place  of  the  first  Society.  Monthly 
meetings  were  held  all  the  year  round,  and  sometimes 
two  meetings  each  month  were  reported,  when  inter- 


82 

esting  speakers  were  provided,  original  essays  were 
read,  and  a  series  of  lectures  were  given  by  the  Rev. 
S.  Irenseus  Prime,  D.  D. — a  member  of  the  Church — 
upon  such  interesting  topics  as :  "  The  Nestorians," 
"  The  Progress  of  Missions,''  and  "  The  Life  and  Work 
of  Dr.  Ashabel  Grant." 

The  anniversary  meetings  were  always  held  in 
the  Church  with  special  music  by  the  choir,  and  were 
occasions  of  much  enthusiasm. 

Two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  members  were 
enrolled,  and  sometimes  the  Society  met  on  Sabbath 
noons  to  ensure  a  full  atendance  of  the  children  and 
younger  members. 

Dr.  W.  Mortimer  Brown  was  the  President  of  this 
Society  from  1845  to  1848,  and  Mr.  Horace  Ailing  was 
the  Secretary  for  a  number  of  years.  The  average 
yearly  collections  reported  were  §376,  which  were  gen- 
erally appropriated  to  making  Life  Members  of  the  A. 
B.  C.  F.  M.  at  one  hundred  dollars  each,  of  the  vari- 
ous members  chosen  to  that  honor  by  the  Society. 

There  is  no  record  of  this  Society  after  September, 
185 1,  although  it  continued  its  useful  existence  for  many 
years  afterward.  The  contributions  were  always  given 
to  the  American  Board,  as  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  not  organized 
until  1837. 

After  the  organization  of  the  undenominational 
Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society  of  New  York,  in 
1 861,  a  collector  was  appointed  to  solicit  contributions 
from  the  ladies  of  the  congregation  for  the  work  of 
that  Society,  and  these  contributions  averaged  about 
$30  a  year. 

In  1870  a  denominational  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  formed 
in  Philadelphia,  and  on  January  16,  1872,  an  auxiliary 
to  this  society,  called  "  The  Woman's  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Third  Presbyteriun  Church,  New- 
ark," was  organized,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
God's  superintending  providence  has  been  constantly 


83 

illustrated  in  the  successful  work  and  progress  of  this 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  our  Church. 

On  April  22,  1872,  the  Society  became  auxiliary  to 
the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Newark,  and  on  June  icth  of  that  year  Miss 
Lillie  B.  Happer,  the  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  A.  P. 
Happer,  D.  D.,of  Canton,  China,  became  its  missionary. 
After  more  than  seven  years  of  faithful  service  Miss 
Happer's  resignation  and  marriage  took  place  in  the 
Autumn  of  1879,  when  her  sister,  Miss  Alverda  C. 
Happer,  was  adopted  as  the  missionary  of  the  Society, 
and  remained  its  representative  until  her  resignation  in 
1887,  after  eight  years  of  successful  service  in  Canton. 

For  six  years  following,  the  Society  supported  "The 
Hospital  School ''  in  Canton,  until  the  Summer  of  1893, 
when  Miss  A.  Adelaide  Brown,  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Dr.  W.  Mortimer  Brown,  was  appointed  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Foreign  Missions  as  a  missionary  to 
India,  and  was  adopted  by  the  Society  as  its  beloved 
representative  in  that  distant  land. 

Miss  Brown  sailed  for  Sangli,  in  the  Western  In- 
dia Mission,  on  October  28th,  1893,  and  since  then  has 
been  wonderfully  successful  and  blessed  of  God  in  her 
work. 

This  daughter  of  our  Church  is  beyond  compare 
one  of  the  most  useful,  accomplished  and  consecrated 
missionaries  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  and  her  frequent  letters  keep  the 
society  in  close  touch  with  its  missionary's  work. 

Monthly  meetings  of  the  Societv  are  held  in  the 
afternoons  from  October  to  June  inclusive,  and  the 
average  attendance  reported  last  year  was  thirty-eight, 
the  highest  number  of  any  preceding  year.  There  are 
eighty-eight  members,  and  with  special  gifts  from  the 
Sunday  School,  Crusaders'  Band  and  friends,  the  con- 
tributions last  year  were  $535,  being  the  largest  amount 
ever  raised  in  the  history  of  the  Society.  The  total 
receipts  in  the  twenty-seven  years  of  its  existence  have 


84 

been  $12,402,  or  an  average  of  $459  a  year.  Mrs.  A.  N. 
Hollifield  has  been  its  efficient  president  since  1888. 

The  Society  possesses  and  circulates  a  well  selected 
library  of  foreign  missionary  literature.  This  library 
was  given  as  a  "memorial"  of  the  late  Mrs.  W.  Morti- 
mer Brown  by  her  two  daughters,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Sayre 
and  Miss  A.  Adelaide  Brown,  of  India. 

Thus  the  divine  energy  of  the  gospel  has  been 
quickened  by  the  outgoing  love  and  the  spirit  of  mis- 
sions which  has  run  like  a  golden  line  of  beauty  through 
all  the  work  ol  our  Church  during  its  seventy-five  years 
of  history,  sowing  the  precious  seed  in  the  most  distant 
heathen  lands.  It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  and 
thanksgiving  that  the  fathers  of  our  Church  have  ever 
looked  upon  the  work  of  Foreign  Missions  as  a  matter 
of  personal  duty,  desiring  to  acquaint  themselves  with 
everything  that  pertained  to  this  the  leading  enterprise 
of  the  coming  century,  and  perhaps  the  most  sacred 
enterprise  of  all  the  centuries. 

Let  us  gain  inspiration  and  courage  from  their  zeal 
and  from  past  successes,  and  know  that  the  prosecu- 
tion and  completion  of  this  task  of  a  world's  evangeli- 
zation is  the  supreme  duty  which  our  Saviour  has 
entrusted  to  his  people  everywhere. 

Let  us  cherish  not  only  the  principle  but  the  very 
spirit  of  Foreign  Missions,  remembering  that  it  is  only 
before  His  Cross  that  the  lesson  must  be  learned. 

"  Let  us  love  so  well 
Our  work  shall  still  be  better  for  our  love. 
And  still  our  love  be  sweeter  for  our  work." 


85 


History  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society 

BY  MISS  THERESA  T.  BURNET. 


History  informs  us  that  "  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in 
1589  gave  the  first  offering  to  Home  Missions  in  mod- 
ern days,  by  his  present  of  one  hundred  pounds,  to  the 
Virginia  merchants,  in  special  regard  and  zeal  for 
planting  the  Christian  religion  in  those  barbarous 
regions." 

Since  that  day  there  have  never  ceased  to  beat 
earnest,  Christian  hearts,  who  have  prayed  and  labored 
for  the  evangelization  of  this  land. 

"  The  royal  charter  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  called 
for  the  conversion  of  such  savages  as  yet  remain  wan- 
dering in  desolation  and  distress.''  While  the  charter 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  enjoined  the  duty, 
"to  win  the  natives  to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of 
the  only  true  God  and  Saviour." 

"  The  seal  of  the  colony  presented  the  figure  of  an 
Indian  with  a  label  at  his  mouth,  on  which  was  in- 
scribed the  Macedonian  cry,  '  Come  over  and  help  us.'  " 

"When  it  was  reported  to  the  Rev.  John  Robinson 
at  Leyden,  that  during  a  skirmish  with  the  Indians 
some  of  them  had  been  killed,  he  returned  the  pathetic 
reply,  '  Oh  that  you  had  converted  some  before  killing 
any."' 

"  As  early  as  1636  in  the  Plymouth  Colony  laws 
were  enacted  providing  for  the  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel among  the  Indians." 

John  Elliot,  fired  with  missionary  zeal,  went  forth 
to  preach  to  the  red  men  of  the  forest,  and  in  1649 
the  Mohican  Bible  was  printed,  the  type  being  sent 
from  the  mother   country.     Three   years   before   this 


86 

Thomas  Mayhen  had  begun  a  work  among  the  Indians 
in  Nantucket  and  Martha's  Vineyard. 

"  The  savages  at  first  refused  to  exchange  their 
thirty-seven  titular  deities  for  one,  but  the  labors  of  the 
faithful  preacher  were  successful  in  convincing  them 
that  the  white  man's  God  was  mightier  than  all  their 
Manitous." 

Thus  we  see  from  the  very  first,  the  Church  in  the 
wilderness,  reached  out  to  the  destitute  about  them. 

"  In  1 741  the  Scotch  Church  of  Long  Island  sent 
a  Missionary  to  the  Shinnecock  Indians,  and  three 
years  later,  also  sustained  David  and  John  Brainard  '' 
in  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  the  adjacent  country. 
"  The  gospel  was  first  preached  to  the  people  along 
or  near  the  Atlantic  coast ;  then  advanced  to  the  foot 
of  the  Alleghanies,  then  through  the  gaps  in  the 
mountains  to  the  new  lands  beyond  where  Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati,  Nashville,  Lexington,  etc.,  now  stand." 

When  Home  Missionaries  were  sent  to  the  little 
town  of  Rochester  they  were  warmly  welcomed  by 
the  people,  then  destitute  of  the  means  of  grace.  So 
we  see  the  work  went  steadily  forward  long  before 
presidents,  secretaries,  treasurers  or  mission  boards 
were  dreamed  of.  It  has  been  well  said,  "  Whatever 
there  is  of  public  taste,  culture  and  conscience  in  the 
nation  to-day  *  *  is  chiefly  due  to  the  self-denying 
toils  of  the  Home  Mission  workers.  Their  salaries 
were  small,  their  trials  and  dangers  great,  their  labors 
abundant." 

After  the  war  of  181 2  the  population  of  our  coun- 
try rapidly  increased,  and  consequently  the  needs  of 
mission  work  became  more  pressing.  To  meet  this  de- 
mand, in  the  year  18 16,  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
was  organized.  Mr.  Russell,  one  of  the  former  pastors 
of  this  Church,  in  the  year  1828  or  9,  was  appointed  an 
agent  for  this  board.  It  was  then  known  as  the  Board 
of  Domestic  Missions.  Let  us,  also,  not  forget  in  this 
resume  of  Home  work  that  our  own  Church  was  repre- 
sented by  a  teacher  among   the   Chickasaw    Indians. 


87 

Miss  Turner,  a  member  of  the  choir  of  the  Third 
Church,  and  afterward  the  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  Brinsmade, 
labored  for  nine  years  among  this  distant  people. 

The  work  was  then  considered  Foreign  Missions. 

Miss  Turner's  trials  and  privations  were  many,  and 
her  difficulties  in  trying  to  reach  home  at  the  breaking 
out  of  the  civil  war  would  furnish  an  interesting  chap- 
ter. 

After  the  war  the  work  among  the  Indians  was 
passed  over  to  the  Home  Missionary  Society. 

The  Chickasaws  are  now  one  of  the  five  civilized 
tribes. 

The  work  of  the  Home  Board,  extending  over  the 
entire  country,  attained  such  proportions  that  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  called  upon  the  women  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  who  had  already  been  engaged  to  some 
extent  in  this  work,  to  co-operate  with  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions,  and  lend  their  energies  "  to  raising 
money  for  the  founding  and  support  of  schools  and 
teachers,  as  well  as  of  churches,  among  the  exceptional 
population  of  our  land,  namely,  the  Alaskan  Indians, 
Mexicans,  Mormons,  Mountaineers,  etc." 

Thus,  in  1878,  the  Women's  Executive  Committee 
became  a  permanent  organization.  Since  that  day 
many  earnest  women  have  been  vigorously  prosecuting 
this  work,  and  six  years  ago,  February  21st,  1893,  our 
church  had  the  honor  of  being  enlisted  in  this  army  of 
noble  women,  forming  ourselves  into  what  is  called 
"  The  Women's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Third 
Presbvterian  Church,"  with  Mrs.  J.  Henry  Huntington 
President;  Mrs.  J.  H.  Strobell  and  Mrs.  U.  B.  Brew- 
ster Vice-Presidents ;  Miss  Theresa  T.  Burnet,  Secre- 
tary, and  Mrs.  E.  K.  Hopper,  Secretary  of  Literature, 

The  following  ladies,  present  at  the  first  meeting, 
were  enrolled  as  members  of  the  society  :  Mrs.  Horace 
Ailing,  Mrs.  A.  Van  Arsdale,  Mrs.  U.  B.  Brewster, 
Mrs.  Edward  Carter,  Miss  Alethia  Carter,  Mrs.  E.  M. 
Douglas,  Mrs.  A.  N.  Hollifield,  Miss  C.  S.  Hall,  Mrs. 
B.    Hopper,   Mrs.    C.    L.    Woodruff,  Miss   A.    Weir. 


88 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Stiles,  Mrs.  G.  H.  Strobell,  Miss  S.  Tillou, 
Miss  T.  T.  Burnet. 

Since  our  organization  we  have  met  the  first  Tues- 
day of  each  month  from  October  to  June  for  prayer 
and  conference,  the  last  meeting  of  the  season  being 
held  in  unison  with  the  Foreign  Society.  At  our 
second  meeting  the  words  of  John  Elliot,  "  Prayer  and 
pains  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  will  do  anything," 
were  suggested  as  the  motto  for  our  society. 

Since  our  organization  our  funds  have  been  vari- 
ously distributed  to  the  Women's  Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sions ;  The  Boys'  Farm  School,  at  Asheville,  N.  C; 
to  the  support  of  a  young  colored  girl,  Haines,  Geor- 
gia ;  and  now  that  Miss  Freeman  has  finished  her 
education  and  is  prepared  to  go  out  and  become  a 
teacher  of  others,  we  have  adopted  a  girl  in  one  of 
our  mission  schools  among  the  Mormons. 

A  large  unoccupied  field  still  lies  before  us.  Let 
this  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Third  Church  be 
the  bugle  call  which  shall  enlist  every  woman  in  our 
Church  to  noble  effort  in  this  cause.  It  has  been 
said,  "  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  churches  of  our  denom- 
ination have  been  directly  or  indirectly  planted  and 
fostered  by  the  instrumentality  of  Home  Missions. 

"  Should  not  the  claims  of  this  work  deeply  touch 
every  heart?  The  love  of  country  and  the  love  of 
God  are  the  two  affections  which  more  often  than  all 
others  have  inspired  men  and  women  to  noble  deeds 
and  have  sustained  them  through  suffering,  sacrifice 
and  death.  You  and  I,  the  Christian, Church  of  America, 
have  laid  upon  us  a  great  responsibility  for  our  share 
in  this  momentous  work.'' 

Let  us,  then,  dear  Christian  sisters,  recognize  not 
only  our  duty,  but  our  great  privilege  in  being  called 
to  be  laborers  with  God  to  make  known  the  knowl- 
edge of  salvation  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  our  highly-favored  land. 


89 


History  of  the  Sewing  Society 

BY   MRS.  J.  W.  READ. 


In  October,  1853,  a  number  of  the  ladies  of  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church  agreed  to  meet,  one  after- 
noon a  week,  to  sew  for  the  poor.  An  organization  was 
formed  under  the  title  of  "  The  Ladies'  Sewing  Society 
of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,''  the  object  of  which 
was  to  assist  the  needy,  including  beneficiary  students 
preparing  for  the  ministry  at  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary.  Its  officers  were  a  First  and  Second  Direc- 
tress, Secretary,  Treasurer,  and  a  Board  of  Managers. 
At  the  annual  meeting  held  November  27th,  1855,  it 
was  decided  to  add  to  the  work  of  the  society  the  send- 
ing of  a  box  to  a  Home  Missionary  who  required  such 
help. 

During  the  years  that  have  followed  boxes  and 
barrels  of  clothing,  books,  stationery  and  other  useful 
articles  have  been  sent  to  the  families  of  missionaries 
needing  assistance.  The  children  of  the  Sabbath 
School,  the  Home  for  the  Friendless,  the  Newsboys' 
Home,  the  Faith  Home,  the  Home  for  Incurables,  the 
Women's  Christian  Association  and  the  German  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  Bloomfield  have  all  been  aided  by 
its  beneficence.  During  the  Civil  War  boxes  were  sent 
to  the  soldiers  in  camp  and  hospital. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  1882  it  was  resolved  to 
change  the  title  to  "  The  Home  Missionary  Society," 
and  to  become  an  auxiliary  of  "  The  Women's  Home 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 

A  constitution  was  adopted  November  14th,  1882, 
which  provided  in  part  as  follows  :  "Article  1st.  This 
Society  shall  be  called  '  The  Ladies'  Home  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church. '     Article  2d. 


90 

Its  object  is  to  enlist  all  the  members  of  the  congregation 
in  prayer  and  effort  in  the  work  of  missions  in  the 
United  States.  Its  officers  shall  be  a  President,  First 
and  Second  Vice  Presidents,  Secretary,  Treasurer  and 
a  board  of  fifteen  Managers. 

At  the  annual  meeting  held  October  nth,  1887,  it 
was  resolved  to  take  again  the  original  title,  viz.  :  "  The 
Ladies'  Sewing  Society,"  which  title  it  still  bears. 

Among  the  honored  women  who  have  filled  the 
office  of  Directress  or  President,  we  find  the  names  of 
Mrs.  Aaron  Davis,  Mrs.  Charles  Stiles,  Miss  Sarah 
Tillou,  Mrs.  Frank  Bartlett  and  Mrs.  E.  Gardner. 
Mrs.  Charles  Stiles  is  the  present  efficient  President. 

Its  Secretaries  and  Treasurers  have  been  Miss 
Anna  Groshong,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Sayre,  Mrs.  C.  W.  Ailing, 
Mrs.  Frank  Bartlett  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Read,  the  present 
incumbent. 

The  following  have  served  on  its  Board  of  Mana- 
gers :  Mrs.  S.  E.  Craven,  Mrs.  I.  Ailing,  Mrs.  Miles, 
Mrs.  Howell,  Mrs.  H.  Ailing,  Mrs.  E;  Gardner,  Mrs.  S. 
Ryerson,  Mrs.  DeVausney,  Mrs.  H.  Bennet,  Miss  Her- 
rick,  Miss  Hedges,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Huntington,  Sr.,  Mrs.  J. 
Lee,  Mrs.  H.  Beach,  Mrs.  Cann,  Mrs.  Sabine,  Mrs.  R. 
Hall,  Mrs.  Sanders,  Mrs.  E.  Douglas,  Mrs.  J.  Post, 
Mrs.  Wm.  Glasby,  Mrs.  A.  Reeves,  Mrs.  B.  Mayo, 
Mrs.  E.  Craven,  Miss  A.  M.  Carter,  Mrs.  J.  McCrea, 
Mrs.  C.  Fowler,  Mrs.  Darby,  Mrs.  A.  Van  Arsdale, 
Mrs.  U.  B.  Brewster,  Mrs.  J.  Rice,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Rice, 
Mrs.  A.  N.  Hollifield,  Mrs.  C.  Woodruff,  Miss  M.  Chil- 
coat,  Mrs.  R.  Thompson,  Mrs.  B.  W.  Hopper,  Mrs. 
Wm.  Howell,  Mrs.  Wm.  Foster,  Mrs.  H.  Strobell,  Mrs. 
Wm.  Morris,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Read,  "  Of  whom  the  greater 
part  remain  unto  the  present,  but  some  are  fallen 
asleep." 

Mrs.  J.  M.  Sayre,  in  a  report  concerning  the  Society 
made  some  years  ago,  said:  "  During  the  thirty  years 
work  of  the  society  fifty-five  boxes  have  been  sent  off, 
valued  at  $7,933,  and  $3,300  in  money  raised  and 
expended." 


91 

Since  then  there  have  been  sent  off  twenty  boxes, 
valued  at  $4,356.37,  and  $3,544.24  in  money  contrib- 
uted, making  a  total  in  boxes  and  money  of  $19,133.62 
contributed  to  Christ's  needy  ones  during  the  forty- 
six  years  of  the  Society's  existence. 

The  annual  average  for  the  first  thirty  years  was  : 

Value  of  boxes $264  43 

Money  raised.. no  00 

For  the  last  sixteen  years  the  average  has  been : 

Value  of  boxes $272  25 

Money   raised —       221   50 

thus  showing  a  slight  increase  in  the  value  of  boxes, 
and  an  increase  of  over  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  the 
amount  of  money  raised,  which  gives  evidence  of  the 
continued  and  increased  efficiency  of  this  Society, 
which,  in  a  quiet  way,  has  been  a  blessing  to  many 
households  scattered  all  over  our  land. 

A  faithful  history  of  the  work  of  the  Society  must 
include  the  name  and  services  of  Capt.  B.  W.  Hopper, 
who  has  sent  many  of  the  boxes  at  his  own  expense. 


History  of  the  Y.  P.  C.  E.  Society 

BY  WILLIAM  F.  CONE. 


The  inception  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea  was 
a  movement  which  supplied  a  long-felt  want  to  the 
young  people  of  the  churches  in  our  country.  They 
were  left  much  to  themselves,  without  any  organization 
to  couple  them  with  the  Church  and  bind  them  to  their 
adopted  family  in  Christ. 

The  results  of  the  first  efforts  of  the  originator  of 
the  idea  (Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark)  were  enormous.     The 


92 

young  people  throughout  this  and  almost  every  other 
country  on  the  globe  echoed  the  glad  note  of  enthusi- 
asm in  the  service  of  the  Christ,  till  at  the  present  day 
the  International  Society  comprises  nearly  three  million 
members,  representing  thousands  of  local  societies. 

The  battle-cry  of  this  Endeavor  band  has  ever  been 
"  For  Christ  and  the  Church.''  With  this  watchword 
upon  their  lips,  the  young  people  of  this  Church,  led 
by  their  Pastor,  Rev.  A.  Nelson  Hollifield,  D.  D.,  or- 
ganized a  Christian  Endeavor  Society  October  8,  1888. 
Mr.  Edmund  K.  Hopper  was  elected  the  first  President, 
with  a  Vice-President,  Treasurer,  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary and  Recording  Secretary.  A  constitution  was 
adopted  and  the  work  of  the  society  apportioned  to 
three  committees:  Prayer  Meeting,  Lookout  and  So- 
cial. Later  five  more  committees  were  found  to  be 
necessary  to  fulfill  the  best  purposes  of  the  society: 
Missionary,  Flower  and  Music,  Sunday  School,  Local 
Union  and  Good  Literature.  These  eight  committees 
constitute  the  working  force  of  the  society,  each  active 
member  of  which  is  a  member  of  one  or  more  commit- 
tees. 

Members  are  classed  as  Active,  Associate  and  Hon- 
orary. Active  members  are  church  members,  and  are 
admitted  by  signing  the  C.  E.  Pledge.  Associate  mem- 
bers are  non  church  members,  and  are  admitted  to 
membership  upon  asserting  their  intention  to  support 
the  society  as  best  they  are  able,  and  to  attend  meetings 
habitually.  H©norary  members  are  church  members 
whose  sympathies  are  with  the  society,  but  who  desire 
to  take  no  active  part  in  the  work,  and  pay  the  stated 
fee  of  $1  per  year  for  the  support  of  that  work.  This 
society,  in  its  eleven  years  of  existence,  has  done  much 
in  advancing  toward  that  ideal  for  which  it  was  created, 
i,  e.,  "For  Christ  and  the  Church."  It  has  been  the 
means  of  enabling  the  young  people  to  "  grow  in  grace 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  *  *  *  Christ,"  by  the 
prayer  meeting;  it  has  enabled  them  to  "  be  steadfast  in 
the  faith  "  by  the  pledge;  it  has  enabled  them  to  "  glorify 


93 

God  and  enjoy  him,"  by  the  consecration  meeting,  and 
it  has  enabled  them  to  partially  fulfill  the  divine  com- 
mission "  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature  "  by 
the  Missionary  Committee.  It  has  thus  been  of  ser- 
vice to  God,  to  you,  and  to   the   individual  member. 

During  the  past  decade  the  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor has  passed  through  its  hands  more  than  $1,000. 
This  money  has  been  used  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  society,  of  the  socials  held  at  stated  periods,  and 
for  appropriations  to  outside  causes.  Only  a  few  of 
these  objects  can  be  mentioned :  William  Street  Mission, 
Bethel  Mission,  missions  in  China,  India,  and  the  South, 
the  million  dollar  fund,  aid  to  families  of  deceased 
ministers,  and  local  benevolence  at  the  Thanksgiving 
season.  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  done 
something,  but  it  would  like  to  do  more.  To  reach 
the  desired  goal,  confidence  in  the  officers  and  mem- 
bers must  be  unlimited.  Those  who  are  eligible  to 
membership  must  join  the  ranks,  appreciate  the  true 
worth  and  undeniable  value  of  your  society,  and  have 
the  welfare  of  our  young  people  at  heart.  The  so- 
ciety needs  your  constant  aid  and  sympathy.  Will 
you  give  them  ? 

"  The  Lord  watch  between  me  and  thee  when  we 
are  absent  one  from  another." 


94 


List  of  Officers  since  Organization. 


PASTORS. 


Joshua  T.  Russell, 
Installed  July  13th,  1824,  Resigned  June"22d,  1829. 

Baxter  Dickinson,  D.  D., 
Installed  Nov.  17th,  1829,  Resigned  Nov.  17th,  1835. 

Selah  B.  Treat,  D.  D., 
Installed  March  22d,  1836,  Resigned  Jan.  24th,  1840. 

Horatio  N.  Brinsmade,  D.  D., 
Installed  Sept.  23d,  1841,  Resigned  Oct.  9th,  1853. 

Elijah  R.  Craven,  D.  D., 
Installed  Oct.  30th,  1854,  Resigned  June  13th,  1887. 

A.  Nelson  Hollifield,  D.  D., 
Installed  April  26,  1888. 


ELDERS. 

Hugh  McDougall, 
Installed  June  8,  1824,  Dismissed  Oct.  12,  1830. 

Reinstalled  Aug.  26,  1832.  "        Feb.  22,  1837. 

George  Crane, 
Installed  Jane  8,  1824,  Resigned  Feb.  14,  1829. 

Ellison  Conger, 
Installed  June  8,  1824,  Dismissed  Feb.  14,  1 829. 

David  D.  Crane, 
Installed  Oct.  31,  1824,  Dismissed  Sept.  — ,  1828. 

Moses  Roberts, 
Installed  Oct.  31,  1824,  Died  July  6,  1853. 

Robert  B.  Campfield, 
Installed  March  27,  1825,  Died  Aug.  18,  1861. 

David  Nichols, 
Installed  March  27,  1825,  Died  April  2,  1843. 


95 

John  Chandler, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1S29,  Died  Dec.  2,  1875. 

James  N.  Hedden, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1899,  Dismissed  Feb.  7,  1837. 

Alexander  M.  Taylor, 
Installed  Feb  I,  1829,  Died  Nov.  16.  1829. 

Stephen  R.  Grover, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1829,  Dismissed  June  14,  1839. 

Timothy  B.  Crowell, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1829,  Died  July  3,  1819. 

Thomas  Richards, 
Installed  Aug.  26,  1832,  Died  March  30,  1853. 

Frederick  S.  Thomas, 
Installed  Aug.  26,  1832,  Died  April  9,  1 868. 

John  C.  Crane, 
Installed  Aug.  26,  1832,  Died  May  17,  1878. 

Aaron  C.  Johnson, 
Installed  Aug.  26,  1832,  Dismissed  March  18,  1853. 

William  B.  Guild, 
Installed  Nov.  — ,  1837,  Resigned  Oct.  21,  1861. 

James  B.  Pinneo, 
Installed  Nov.  — ,  1837,  Dismissed  Sept.  16,  1819. 

John  R.  Davison, 
Installed  Feb.  3,  1850,  Died  April  14,  1863. 

Lorenzo  Boyden, 
Installed  Feb.  3,  1850,  Died  Feb.  17,  1884. 

William  Rankin,  Jr., 
Installed  Dec.  — ,  1852,  Dismissed  May  14,  18 : 5. 

Edward  Ingleton, 
Installed  Dec.  — ,  1852,  Resigned  Jan.  5,  1859. 

Jacob  D.  Vermilye, 
Installed  Dec.  — ,  1852,  Dismissed  Dec.  10,  1868. 

Isaac  A.  Alling, 
Installed  Nov.  30,  1*62,  Died  April  10,  1890. 

Timothy  Andruss. 
Installed  Nov.  30,  18*2,  Died  Nov.  22,  1867. 

William  M.  Brown,  M.  D., 
Installed  Nov.  30',  1862,  Died  April  14,  1864. 


96 

Thomas  C.  Davis, 
Installed  Nov.  30,  1862,  Dismissed  May  14,  1865. 

Charles  C.  Lathrop, 
Installed  Nov.  30,  1862,  Died  Sept.  15,  1865. 

Daniel  Price, 
Installed  May  31,  1868,  Died  April  23,  1892. 

Horace  Alling, 
Installed  May  31,  1868, 

Edwin  F.  Dorrance, 
Installed  May  31,  1868,  Dismissed  Jan.  9,  1869. 

Robert  S.  Grummon, 
Installed  May  31,  1868, 

Richard  Hall, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1880,  Dismissed  June  27,  1887. 

Albert  G.  Woodruff, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1880,  Dismissed  March  31,  1886. 

J .  Henry  Huntington, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1880. 

Edwin  M.  Douglas, 
Installed  Feb.  1,  1880. 

James  B.  Burnet,  M.  D., 
Installed  Nov.  22,  1885. 

Edward  T.  Cone, 
Installed  Jan.  4,  1891. 

William  Rankin,  M.  D., 
Installed  Jan.  4,  1891. 

Albridge  C.  Smith, 
Installed  Jan.  19,  1895,  Dismissed  April  4,  1899. 

Jeremiah  M.  Cobb, 
Installed  May  14,  1899. 

Matthias  J.  Price, 
Installed  May  14,  1899. 


97 


DEACONS. 

For  many  years,  the  Elders  acted  as  Deacons.      In  1857, 
the  first  separate  Board  was  elected. 

Jabez  B.  Goble,  M.  D., 
Installed  Nov.,  1857,  Died  Feb.  7,  1859. 

William  M.  Brown,  M.  D., 
Installed  Nov.,  1857,  Kesigned  Nov.  30,  1862. 

Charles  C.  Lathrop, 
Installed,  Nov.,  1857,  Resigned  Nov.  30,  1862. 

Albert  G.  Woodruff, 
Installed  May,  1872,  Resigned  Feb.  1,  1880. 

Edwin  M.  Douglas, 
Installed  May,  1872,  Resigned  Feb.  1,  1880. 

James  R.  Burnet,  M.  D., 
Installed  May,  1872,  Resigned  Nov.  2,  1885. 

Joseph  M.  Sa^re, 
Installed ^Nov.  22,  1885. 

Jeremiah  M.  Cobb, 
Installed  Nov.  22,  1885,  Resigned  May  9,  1899. 

Matthias  J.  Price, 
Installed  Nov.  22,  1885,  Resigned  May  9,  1899. 

Clarence  W.  Alling, 
Installed  May  22,  1888. 

George  Murdoch, 
Installed  May  21,  1899. 

Hugh  W.  Watson, 
Installed  May  21,  1899. 


98 


TRUSTEES. 


Robert  B.  Campfield,  1824-26;  David  Nichols,  1824-26; 
Smith  Burnet,  1821-31;  Luther  Goble,  1824-34,  1857-60, 
Charles  T.  Shipman,  1824-44,  1851-53,  1854-60,  1S62-63; 
James  Searing,  1824-33,  1837-38;  Isaac  Andruss,  1824-30, 
1837-39;  Wm.  Rankin,  1826-30;  Rodney  Wilbur,  1826-51; 
Jedediah  J.  Nichols,  1830-33;  Oliver  S.  Halstead,  1830-46; 
Chas.  T.  Day,  1831-36;  Edson  Park,  1833-37,  1847-48; 
Ezra  D.  Crane,  1834-35;  Edward  Ingleton,  1834-37;  Jacob 
H.  Burnet,  1835-38,  1849-62;  Jabez  G.  Goble,  1836-38, 
1849-57;  A.  P.  Howell,  1838-39;  John  Robb,  1838-39;  Mat- 
thias W.  Day,  1839-51;  Aaron  Beach,  1839-40;  Elihu  Day, 
1839-46;  Amzi  Armstrong,  1839-45;  John  Young,  1840-51; 
Jacob  D.  Vermilye,  1844-53,  1860-62;  Wm.  M.  Scudder, 
1845-47,1848-49;  Joseph  Y.  Miller,  1846-51;  Thomas  B. 
Pierson,  1846-60,  1862-63,  Daniel  Price,  1850-63;  Albert 
Ailing,  1851-60;  John  Whitehead,  1853-54;  D.  B.  Day, 
1853-55;  Isaac  N.  Rankin,  1855-57;  Stephen  B.  Saunders, 
1857-81;  Isaac  A.  Ailing,  1860-63;  Chas.  A.  Carter,  1860-63; 
Thos.  C.  Davis,  1860-62;  Elihu  Mockridge,  1863-67;  Horace 
Ailing,  1863-69;  Edward  Carter,  1803-67,  1868-71;  P.  W. 
Crater,  1863-71;  Ezra  W.  Whitehead,  1863-77;  Edwin  H. 
Dawson,  1863-68,  George  M.  Dawes,  1867-79;  Charles  W. 
Wheeler,  1867-68;  A.  A.  Reeves,  1868-71,  1881-90  (*died) 
Thos.  C.  Cox,  1869-72;  Joshua  Van  Name,  1871-78;  John 
B.  Lee,  1871-81;  J.  H.  Huntington,  1871;  H.  J.  Fonda, 
1873-76;  F.  A.  Ailing,  1876.84  (*died);  W.  D.  Carter, 
1877  95;  John  C.  Mandeville,  1878-82;  Dr.  Wm.  Rankin, 
1879-91;  Frank  Bartlett,  1881;  B.  W.  Hopper,  1882;  Henry 
Cougar,  1884;  Dr.  J.  W.  Read,  1890;  C.  L.  Woodruff,  1891; 
Clarence  W.  Ailing,  1895. 


99 


Present  Organization. 

(June  8th,  1899). 


PASTOR, 
Rev.  A.  Nelson  Hollifield,  D.  D. 

ELDERS, 
Horace  Alling,  Robert  S.  Grummon, 

J.  Henry  Huntington,      Edwin  M.  Douglas, 
James  B.  Burnet,  M.  D.,     Edward  T.  Cone, 
William  Rankin,  M.  D.,    Jeremiah  M.  Cobb, 
Matthias  J.  Price. 

DEACONS. 

Joseph  M.  Sayre,  Clarence  W.  Alling, 

George  Murdoch,  Hugh  Watson. 

TRUSTEES 
J.  Henry  Huntington,      Frank  Bartlett. 
Benjamin  W.  Hopper,      Henry  Congar, 
Joshua  W.  Read,  M.  D„     Caleb  L.  Woodruff, 

C.  W.  Alling. 

SEXTON", 
H.  H.  Brown. 


"Qui  transtulit  sustfnet." 


^ 


NOT  TO  BE  TAKEN 

FROM 

THIS  ROOM 


